Getting the job done
by nikkimurray
Summary: A Jenny and Nick story! Jenny is about to start her new job at the ARC and is worried that it might not be quite what she is expecting. She has no idea how right she is . . .
1. Nerves

Chapter 1

Jenny was lying on her sofa, aimlessly flicking through the job description for what seemed like the millionth time. No matter how many times she read it, it failed to seem any less vague. All she could really conclude about this job was that it offered a hefty pay rise and involved some sort of 'public liaison' for a sector of the government that she had never heard of before . . . The ARC . . .

She had no clue as to why this job appealed to her so much; it was defiantly not the money, as her old job didn't exactly pay pittance. And anyway, she had never had money worries in her life; daddy's money had supported her until she had gotten her first real job, and since then she had never wanted for anything. No, it was100% not the money . . . maybe it was the fact that she had been head hunted for it? She had received a call from some rather blabbering man called Leek informing her that she had been short-listed for a position within a government facility, and he had laughed slightly when she told him she had applied for no such thing.

"This isn't the sort of job you can apply for, Miss Lewis," he chortled. "You were recommended for the position by . . . well lets just say you are highly sort after."

She had to admit, it had sparked her interest. So she had attended the interview with a panel of five people where she was asked everything from the names and occupations of her extended family, to the date of birth of her fiancee. Every time she tried to ask what the job entailed, they avoided answering by changing the subject to salary or simply stating that she would get faxed the details in due course. After about an hour of what seemed like an interrogation, Jenny was told there and then that she had been successful in the application, much to her confusion. Didn't they have other people to interview? But she had nodded graciously, before shaking their hands and leaving. She had a strange feeling that she had just landed the job of a life time, and she didn't want to jeopardize it by asking too many questions. She was sure that they would fax her over the full picture. The full picture turned out to not be quite that . . . a few lines about public relations, the address of the facility she would be working at, and the time and date she was expected to start.

Jenny hated being kept in the dark about things, and this was no exception. She had given up a good steady job for this opportunity, and now she was worried that it might have not been worth it. She could imagine turning up the next day to find that she would be shut up in an office doing paper work until retirement. The thought made her sigh deeply and sink lower into her sofa. Why hadn't she just stayed in her old job?!

"You coming to bed, babe?" Mark said, poking his head around the door.

"In a second," she replied, not looking up from her job description. He walked in and sank into the sofa next to her curled up legs.

"How many times are you going to read that?" he smiled as he stroked her leg casually. "I don't think that you're going to get any more information out of it."

"I know," she sighed, flicking over the page. "I just hate not knowing what I'm in for tomorrow."

"Oh, is it tomorrow you're starting?" Mark asked, sounding surprised.

Jenny looked up at him in disbelief. She had only mentioned it to him about five hundred times! Why was he never interested in anything she was doing? Unless in benefitted him in some way of course . . . However, she was in no mood to argue as she wanted to be in the right frame of mind for work the next day, so with difficulty, she refrained from snapping at him.

Later that night in bed, Mark breathed heavily beside Jenny, but she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned for hours, before giving up and turning on her bedside light. She again pulled out the job details and flicked through them. She had to admit - she was nervous. More nervous than she had ever been for anything in her life. This struck her as rather odd, as she was not the sort of woman to be easily intimidated, but everything about this new job seemed to fill her with a mixture of dread and excitement.

********

Jenny woke up from what seemed like a half an hour sleep feeling the familiar tingling sensation in her stomach. She remembered with a jolt why - today was the day! She turned off her alarm and, ignoring Mark's grumbling at the earliness of the wake-up call, she got up and showered.

For what seemed like the first time in her life, she was rather unsure of what she should wear. Her first instinct was to go with her black silk dress and red heels, but she found herself questioning her choice. What if it looked too . . . forceful? She eventually decided to go with her instinct; she wasn't about to go changing everything about herself for a job. And besides - she liked to look forceful. She liked that people's first impression of her would be that she was not someone who could be pushed around. She made her make-up match the look she was going for . . . now for the hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She knew that her hair looked much better down as it was now, but in her opinion, it made her face look too soft. As she wanted to look sharp, she brushed her curls up into a tight bun.

She scrutinized herself in the mirror for a minute. Considering that she had no clue what she was in for today, she was sure that the way she looked wouldn't betray that.

"Here goes," she whispered to herself as she tried to ignore the knot in her stomach.

She lent over the bed and kissed her sleeping fiancee on the cheek, leaving a bright red mark there as a souvenir. Then she straightened up, and made her way to her car, attempting to steady her hands as she went.

********

**Couldn't resist writing another story now that my uni work is out of the way for the time being!**

**Hope you enjoy, as it's a tad different from my previous stories.**

**Also . . . reviews make me smile like this :-)**


	2. The ravings of a mad man

**This chapter and the following one will be more of a run-through of episode 2, series 2 through Jenny's perspective. Then the story will deviate off. Enjoy :-)**

Chapter 2

Jenny arrived at the 'ARC' and was immediately greeted by two armed soldiers. This intimidated her slightly, but she tried not to show it as she presented them with the paper work they requested and her driving licence. As she passed them over, her hands shook slightly as she looked down at their weapons; what the hell was this place, Fort Knox? The soldiers scrutinized her documents for a good long while, before handing her them back and escorting her through door after door after door. She looked around the place with quiet awe; it was incredible! Nothing like any office building she'd ever seen.

They finally came to a set of double doors, which the soldiers held open for her. Inside, there were two men in suits. She approached the first and held out her hand, her heart thudding rather hard with nerves, although she ensured that her face was composed.

"Ah," the man smiled as he shook her hand. "James Lester," he added with a nod.

"Hello," Jenny replied. This must be her boss; she remembered his name been mentioned in the interview.

The other man also held out his hand, which she took.

"Oliver Leek," he drawled.

She recognized his voice from the phone. He was rather skinny, and she couldn't help but shudder at his touch; there was something about him that she just didn't like . . . something she couldn't put her finger on. She withdrew her hand quickly, and looked around the room; it looked like it was the main area. It was humongous!

Her gaze fell on three people at the other side of the room. It was two men and a woman, all of whom seemed in a deep conversation about something. One of the men had his back to her.

"I'd like you all to meet your new colleague," Lester shouted over to them. "This is Jennifer Lewis."

Jenny hated being called 'Jennifer' and made a mental note to reintroduce herself as 'Jenny' when such an opportunity presented itself.

The three people looked around, smiling. Jenny's gaze was drawn to the man in the middle, whose face seemed to fall into a look of shock when his eyes locked with hers. He looked like he was approaching forty and he had the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen; so much so that the colour was visible even from this distance. His hair was sandy blonde, and he had quite a bit of stubble on his face. Jenny supposed that he was rather handsome, but the fact that he was staring at her like he had seen a ghost was making her feel rather uncomfortable.

He walked up to her slowly, his eyes searching her face almost hungrily. If she would have been in the street, or indeed anywhere else that wasn't here she would have asked him what his problem was, but as she was in front of her new boss and he was her new colleague, she refrained, and kept the smile plastered on her face. He stopped a couple of feet away from her.

"Claudia Brown," he whispered in a rather husky Scottish accent. Who the hell was Claudia Brown?

"Jenny," she corrected him as she held out her hand, which he took in a dream like state. "Nice to meet you."

"Miss Lewis has been appointed to a senior member of the team," Lester informed them. "Which means that she answers to me, and you lot answer to her."

"I didn't think we answered to anyone," said a man that had just walked in. He went and stood the other three members of the team.

"Scientists," Lester sniggered to Jenny, as if to apologize that they had to have anything to do with them at all.

"That's quite alright, James," Jenny answered with a smile, aware that that strange man was still staring at her. "I'm used to working with creative people. Please do all call me Jenny."

"Claudia," the man said again, his eyes never leaving her face.

"My names not Claudia," she explained in a forced polite manner. Was this some sort of a joke?

"Claudia Brown," he repeated. This was really starting to get on her nerves. As if her first day wasn't nerve-racking enough without some oddball purposely getting your name wrong. Why was he doing it? To make her look stupid?

"I think you're confusing me with somebody else," she replied coldly, her voice forced calm.

"No, I know you think your name is Jenny Lewis, but you're really a woman called Claudia Brown," he stammered. "There's a good reason for this . . . I can explain."

This was really starting to creep her out now. Everyone else in the room was looking at the mad man with the same look that she herself was giving him - a mixture of puzzlement and slight irritation.

"Yes, meet professor Nick Cutter," interjected James Lester. "A fascinating study at the tipping point between inspiration and lunacy."

"Is everything alright Professor?" Leek asked him, sounding as bemused as Jenny herself felt.

"I know this sounds insane, but you're a woman called Claudia Brown," the man called Nick insisted. ". . . Just listen . . ."

Jenny shook her head and averted her eyes to the floor. She didn't want to hear any more of this . . . it was too overbearing. She just wanted him to stop talking to her.

"The anomaly detector, Professor," a young man from behind Cutter said, as if trying to change the subject. "You said we should talk about it . . . can we do that now?"

Jenny vaguely registered the use of the word 'anomaly', but she had no curiosity about what it was; all she cared about was that the man called Cutter got as far away from her as possible. Much to her relief, he allowed himself to be shepherded off by the younger man, although he looked back at her as he walked away.

"I do apologize Miss Lewis," Lester said when Cutter and the young man were out of earshot. "The Professor is . . . how shall I put it . . . odd. I'm sure he means no harm."

Jenny nodded and returned his smile with a forced one of her own. She didn't know why, but what the Professor had said to her had really shaken her up. However, she put it to the back of her mind; the ravings of a lunatic was not worth pondering about.

She looked around at the remaining people, and locked eyes with the only other woman in the room. She had platinum blonde hair that was cut short, and was wearing clothes that Jenny deemed to be rather to casual for the work place, despite how trendy they were. However, she smiled kindly at Jenny.

"Hi, I'm Abby," she said, holding out her hand. Jenny took it and smiled warmly back; finally, someone sane!

"This is Stephen," Abby continued, indicating the man next to her, who nodded in acknowledgment. Then she hesitated. "Erm . . . sorry about Cutter, he's not usually like that; he's a very nice man."

"I'm sure," Jenny answered, completely untruthfully.

"Can I give you a tour, Miss Lewis?" Lester asked her.

"That would be wonderful, thank you," she answered, unable to stop the echo of the Professors words ringing in her ears.

James Lester led her all around the ARC, and showed her everything. There was a gym, a common room, about a million laboratories, an animal containment faculty (which puzzled her, but she let it go for the time being), more offices than could be counted, and of course, the main room, which he led her back to.

When they opened the door, Jenny was filled with a feeling of dread; Cutter was making his way across the room towards her. What did he want - to start round two?

"Miss Lewis, please accept my apology," he said softly as he reached her, not quite meeting her eye. "It wasn't my intention to frighten you."

"No problem," she answered in the coldest tone she could muster. Then she felt like kicking herself - she had just admitted that he had frightened her. In an attempt to gloss over her slip-up, she changed the subject.

"Now, perhaps one of you can tell me what it is I'm doing here?" she smiled, looking from one to the other.

She noticed how they both exchanged a nervous glance. For some reason, Lester called Leek over, and the creepy man seemed to materialize next to him immediately.

"Leek, I think it's time to inform Jenny about our . . . little problems," Lester said.

Jenny looked up at Leek and saw him shift uncomfortably. Then he began to explain about space-time rips called 'anomalies' and about the dinosaurs that sometimes travel through them and end up reeking havoc here. Jenny listened with her mouth slightly open.

"Your jobs to come up with cover stories," Lester explained when Leek had finished. "Which essentially means convincing people that they didn't see what they actually did."

"Keeping the public ignorant is the government's top priority," Leek interjected.

"Nicely put Leek . . ."

Jenny laughed in disbelief. This had to be a wind-up? Was it their custom to do something like this on peoples first day? A way of initiating her into the team? For some reason, she looked at Cutter. He looked back at her, his expression stony and his eyes staring back at her, completely unreadable.

"Dinosaurs?" she laughed, looking back at Lester and Leek. "Oh come on! What's this about really?"

"One thing I can promise you Jenny is that this job is like nothing you've ever done before," Lester smirked.

"Oh I doubt it," Jenny answered honestly. "When you've been in PR as long as I have, nothing much can surprise you."

"Take Jenny down to Human Resources to finish the paperwork," Lester said to Leek.

He had clearly given up on trying to convince Jenny of his ludicrous explanation; maybe he thought that she wouldn't believe anything before she'd seen it for herself. Leek led her off back through the doors. Jenny looked around as she walked away and before she even realised what she was doing and locked eyes with Cutter again. Why did he keep looking at her? She wrenched her gaze away, and followed Leek down the corridor.

Jenny was made to sign the official secrets act, along with about a dozen other papers. This all seemed completely surreal. She did not believe any of the things they were telling her; that was a fact. But here she was, signing papers and documents like she did. There was a tiny part of her, however, that thought 'what if?' It was a government facility, after all. And there were soldiers protecting the entrances. Why would that be the case if it wasn't to do with something . . . well . . . something the public shouldn't know about.

After she had signed paper after paper after paper, Lester appeared by her side.

"You can go home now, Miss Lewis," he said to her, as he took the papers off the table. "This day was more of a formality, to introduce you to the ARC. You start properly tomorrow at 9am."

Jenny nodded, and made to leave.

"Hang on, Jenny," Lester continued. He handed her a pile of files. "These are the files of everyone on the team. I would like you to look through them and access anything that might interfere with the teams efficiency."

"Of course James," she smiled.

********

Later on back at her house, Jenny lay on the sofa again in the same position she was in the previous night when she had looked through her job description. Now, however, she had four files on her lap and was infinitely more interested in her read; mainly as these had a lot of very juicy information in them. She found out a little more about the people she would be working with every day.

Abby Maitland was twenty-four and left university in her first term to pursue a job as a keeper in Wellington Zoo where she had been working ever since. Up until she had joined the ARC of course. She had become involved in the anomaly operation (as it was called in the files) by being present during an incident in the Forest of Dean. She had been kept on as a team member due to her expertise in lizards.

_That's odd,_ Jenny thought to herself, as she turned her attention to Conner's file. She had never been introduced to him, but by the picture, she saw that he was the young man that had led Cutter away to stop him raving about the woman called Claudia Brown.

Conner Temple was twenty-five, and up until recently had been a student of Professor Nick Cutters studying Evolutionary Zoology. He had become involved with the team by also being present at the first 'anomaly' sighting after investigating a creature sighting with the Professor and Stephen. He had been kept on due to his expertise in prehistoric creatures. He currently resides with Abby in her flat.

From Stephen's file, Jenny gathered that he was thirty, and had been a student of Nick and Helen Cutters at one point. Jenny re-read this line a few times before taking it in fully . . . Cutter was married? Then she shook her head and continued reading - why should she care that he was married? Anyway, Stephen had gone on to be Nick Cutter's lab technician and had been with him at the discovery of the first anomaly. Then, their was a hasty line written at the bottom as though it was a recent entry: _it was recently discovered that Stephen Hart had had an affair with Professor Nick Cutter's wife, Helen Cutter_.

Jenny stopped reading and put the files down with a sigh. _Poor Nick_, was her first thought. Then she shook her head again. It's not like she knew the man enough to pity him anyway. However, this defiantly counted as a factor that may effect the teams efficiency.

Jenny reached over and picked up the file marked 'PROFESSOR NICHOLAS CUTTER'; this is the one she had been looking forward too if she was honest with herself. The man intrigued her, it was as simple as that. It's not every day that you met someone who introduced themselves by insisting that you were someone else. She opened it and unconsciously stared at the photograph of him on the first page. He looked a lot younger on it, although that maybe because he was smiling on it. His hair looked a little shorted and was gelled up slightly, and his blue eyes looked a bit brighter. She read his file carefully. He was a very clever man. He had graduated university with first class honors, and had done extensive field work in before settling down as a Professor at The University Central London. He had met his wife, Helen Ambrose, at University and they had married a few years later.

Then there was a photograph of Helen on the next page and Jenny had to admit that she was beautiful. Jenny began to read about her with a weird feverish curiosity, then she almost gasped aloud; according to this file, Helen had left Nick (who believed her to be dead) for eight years whilst traveling through the anomalies - Jenny conveniently ignored that word as she had done whilst reading all the files - and had only resurfaced a year ago. And to top it all of, she had admitted her affair with Stephen before disappearing off again.

Again, Jenny found herself feeling so sorry for Nick Cutter. The poor man had been put through a lot by that bitch of a wife - no wonder he was a little odd . . .

The front door opened and slammed shut again, rousing Jenny from her thoughts. She hastily shoved the files away into her bag as though she had been doing something wrong, and hitched a smile on her face.

"Hello?" said Mark's voice, as he walked into the living room.

"You're back early," she said, as she allowed him to plant a kiss on her cheek.

"Yeah, I couldn't wait to see you," he smiled as he slid onto the sofa next to her. Jenny suppressed a snort with difficulty; she doubted very much that this was the case, but she let it go.

"How was your first day?" he asked as he turned on the television.

"It was . . ." Jenny hesitated. What should she say; odd? terrifying? exhilarating? . . . "It was interesting," she finished.

"Hmm," Mark said, clearly not listening.

Jenny sighed, picked up her bag, and made her way to the kitchen. She sat down at the table and pulled out the files again. Reading them was about a hundred times more interesting than watching Mark watch the TV.

********

**Long chapter sorry, but I hope you enjoyed anyway! Next one up soon!**


	3. Just someone I work with

Chapter 3

The next day, Jenny was up and out of the house as quickly as possible; she had so many questions flying around her head, and she had a funny feeling that today would be the day that she would get her answers.

Sure enough, as she was talking to Lester about the files she was reading the previous night, Leek hurried over and informed them that they had a new creature attack.

"Creature?" Jenny asked, wondering if that was a code word for something.

"Now's your chance to shine then Jenny," Lester drawled as he skimmed the file that Leek had handed him. "You and Cutter get down there sharpish."

Jenny looked around to see Cutter standing next to her looking glum, but he nodded all the same. Without a word to Jenny, he took the file off Lester and walked off.

"And get in touch with Stephen and the others," Lester shouted after him. Jenny hurried after him with difficulty; her heels didn't allow for much sprinting. When she reached him, she walked next to him in silence, and received the same treatment back. They reached the car, and she was surprised that he held the door open for her.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she climbed in. _God this was awkward!_

He sat in the drivers seat, and took off in silence. If Jenny was told yesterday that she would have had to spend time alone with him in a car, she would have panicked as in her opinion, he was unstable. But she was surprised to find that she felt safe with him; if not comfortable. She had no idea were they were going, but Cutter seemed to know so she didn't bother to mention it. He pulled out his phone and called Stephen, and then Abby.

"You know, it's illegal to talk on the phone when you're driving," Jenny informed him as he hung up, noting how much warmer his tone was with Abby compared to how it was with Stephen.

"So sue me," he muttered, making a sharp turn.

"What the hell is your problem with me?" Jenny snapped before she could help herself.

Cutter glanced at her for a second, a rather amused look on his face.

"What makes you think I've got a problem?"

Jenny let out a harsh laugh.

"Because you won't even talk to me, let alone look at me," she replied.

"I'm talking to you now," he pointed out gruffly.

"Barely," she said quietly, looking out of the window.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" he snapped.

Jenny suppressed a grin with difficulty; why was she fighting with a perfect stranger? Why did she care? She didn't bother to reply and remained silent for the rest of the car journey.

They had apparently reached the destination, as Cutter parked at the side of a busy street and got out. Jenny followed suit, feeling rather nervous - she still didn't really know what she was expected to do.

"You don't really expect me to believe all this stuff about dinosaurs?" she laughed as they began walking.

"Honestly . . . no," he said bluntly. God, why did he have to bring the conversation to a crashing halt every time he spoke?

Jenny glanced around at him as they walked and was surprised to see that he was staring at her again in . . . well . . . in a way that was not appropriate.

"Can you stop doing that please?" she snapped, finally having enough.

"What?" he asked.

"Staring at me," Jenny replied, blushing slightly; it did sound rather conceited.

"I'm not aloud to look at you?" he laughed coldly.

"Not like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like you know me," Jenny said, not having the bottle to say 'like you fancy me'.

"See I feel like I do know you," he said.

"Well you don't," Jenny snapped, as she had a feeling that that woman's name was about to rear up again. "Because if you did I'd be aware of it wouldn't I?"

"No, not necessarily," Cutter mumbled.

God, this was starting to get old. Jenny knew he'd been through a lot, but that was no reason for him to pester her like this.

"Lester told me you were . . . odd . . ." Jenny admitted.

"Don't put too much faith in what Lester says," Cutter informed her.

Again, Jenny suppressed a grin. So he expected her to trust him, a rambling insane scientist over man of Lester's standing who had shown her nothing but politeness?

"I don't see why not," Jenny smirked. For some reason, she knew this would get to him. "He seems like a very . . . impressive man."

Cutter turned his head sharply to look at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. But she just smiled back.

"You're right; I probably don't know you," he muttered, turning away from her.

When they reached the building, Jenny immediately switched into PR mode and issued her orders. It was clear that Cutter was far from impressed with this, but that was just tough; she had a job to do and he had no right to judge her just because she had to be bossy whilst doing it.

When Stephen finally showed up, he and Cutter entered the building without a second glance back, leaving Jenny outside wondering what the hell was going on. Eventually, she tried phoning Cutter about five times before he finally picked up.

"Why the hell haven't you been answering my calls?" she snarled down the phone, ignoring the fact that she sounded like a possessive girlfriend.

"Been a bit busy here," was all he bothered to say. Jenny had had enough.

"I'm coming up," she informed him, determined to see for herself what was going on.

"No don't!" he insisted.

"Well quite frankly you can't stop me!" she exclaimed. She was a senior member of the team, and if she wanted to go up, she didn't need his permission!

"Okay," he conceded. "You take the stairs to the twelfth floor and I'll meet you there. Don't take the lift. Now I'll repeat that for you - don't take the lift."

"Yeah, fine - whatever," she said, hanging up.

She sighed as she thought of all those stairs in heels. That, and the fact that she had a desperate urge to do something to disobey Cutter made her take the lift instead. There was something slight satisfying about not following his orders. The lift doors slid open, and to Jenny's utter shock, a strange foul-smelling gas seeped in. She stepped out onto the corridor to find that it engulfed everywhere so that the floor was not visible.

"Cutter?" she coughed, looking around in panic. "Cutter!"

Then suddenly out of the fog, something large darted out from behind her and grabbed her by the hair.

"CUTTER!" she shouted as loud as she could, as she grabbed onto the wall. The thing was trying to drag her down into that putrid smelling fog. She panicked, and screamed at the top of her lungs . . . she was losing her grip . . .

Then she felt the pressure release, making her slam her head against the wall and fall to the floor. She looked around wildy and saw Cutter standing over her, holding what looked like a giant ornamental sword.

"Next time I say take the stairs . . . you take the stairs!" he shouted.

She nodded in agreement, and then yelped in shock as the thing that had attacked her latched onto Cutter's leg. It looked like some sort of gigantic worm/slug. Cutter was knocked to the floor with a yell, and dropped the sword. Jenny scrambled to her feet and looked around in panic; she spotted the sword he had dropped and picked it up with trembling hands. She closed her eyes and swung downwards, and when she opened them, she had severed the thing in two. However, it appeared that the blade had come a bit to close to Cutter's . . . neither regions . . .

"WATCH WERE YOU'RE SWINGING THAT THING!" he bellowed, his face red with anger.

Jenny let out a hallow laugh. This was unbelievable - she'd just saved his life!

"Next time, I'll leave it to you to get yourself out of trouble!" she shouted back, matching his fury.

"Fine, it's not like I was asking for help!" he roared as he got to his feet.

"Oh, and you were doing so well on your own!" she yelled, shaking with rage.

"Everything was fine until you showed up!" he shouted, before walking off.

Despite her anger, she followed him closely; she was scared of one of those things getting her again, especially since this time, she doubted very much that Cutter would come to her rescue. He stormed off out onto the stair well, and barely let her pass through the door before he slammed it back. Jenny put her hands on the banister and lent forward . . . she couldn't get her head around this . . . how was it possible . . .

She glanced up to see that Cutter was looking at her; his expression softening slightly.

"You alright?" he said in a much gentler tone.

"It's all true," Jenny exclaimed before she could stop herself. "Creatures . . . dinosaurs! This is my new job! . . . How?"

He looked at her with an expression that could be construed as a mixture of sympathy and irritation.

"Later on, I'll explain everything I know to you but for now I have a job to do," he said quickly. "And if you can't handle it you best go back downstairs."

She looked up at him. Yes, she wanted to go back downstairs. Yes, she wanted to quit this job immediately and never set foot in the ARC again. But that just wasn't her . . . she wasn't a wimp. She wouldn't go so far as to call herself brave, but she certainly had more bottle than most people. And now was the time to prove it. So she went with him. All-in-all, Jenny had to say that they did a good job. They rescued the two people who were trapped there, found Stephen, and Jenny even managed to come up with a reasonable cover story for the whole thing. Not bad for a whole days work . . .

********

When Jenny went home, she was exhausted and covered head-to-toe in some sort of prehistoric worm gunk. She let herself in the house, praying that Mark wasn't there . . . how would she explain it?

"Hello?" she shouted, holding her breath.

Silence.

She sighed with relief, and rushed upstairs to shower. She tried to keep her mind blank as she scrubbed the slime off her body, as every time she tried to wrap her mind around what had happened that day, her head hurt. By the time Mark came home, she was completely gunk-free and her clothes were in the bin.

"Hi gorgeous," he said, kissing her cheek. "How was your day?"

"Fine," she said, not meeting him in the eye.

"I've got you something," he grinned. "Close your eyes."

"Mark - "

"Just do it," he smiled.

Jenny sighed and closed her eyes; she was not in the mood for this at all. She felt him rustling around in his bag in front of her.

"Okay, open them," he said excitedly.

She opened her eyes and gasped; he was holding a beautiful diamond ring in front of her face.

"It's the one we picked out, I just got it resized; it should fit now," he said as he lifted up her left arm and placed the ring on her engagement finger.

"I don't know what to say," Jenny whispered; this couldn't be more true - she just couldn't muster up the strength to get excited about a ring after what she had found out that day.

"You could say that you love it and that you'll reward me for it later," he smiled cheekily, before pulling her in for a kiss. Jenny allowed it to happen, but her heart wasn't in it at all.

Then, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Jenny said as she wrenched away from Mark's embrace. She glanced down at the ring on her finger as she walked up the hall . . . it really was a beautiful ring . . .

She opened the door and her heart seemed to stop dead -

It was Nick.

Before she had a chance to say anything, or even invite him in out of politeness, he started babbling about another world and an accident happening in the past and about some people growing up with different lives. For a reason unbeknownst to herself, Jenny listened in silence, watching him as he nervously stumbled over his words.

"Who is it, Jen?" said Mark's voice from behind her. She jumped slightly - she had almost forgotten he was in the house.

Cutter stopped talking immediately, and smiled.

"You're busy . . . I'm so sorry," he said, before walking away. Jenny watched him go, wondering if she should go after him. If Mark hadn't have been there, she probably would have; if only to find out what he had to say.

"Who was that?" Mark asked, in a somewhat accusatory tone.

"Just someone I work with," Jenny replied, shutting the door reluctantly.

Jenny's mind raced with yet more questions as she made her excuses and went up to bed alone. Why had Cutter come here? And how had he found out where she lived? She certainly hadn't told him. And why had he stopped talking when Mark showed up? If she didn't know any better, she'd say he was jealous. But that was impossible . . . he hardly knew her. How could someone be jealous over a person they've just met? And it's not like he showed her any particular warmth in his persona anyway. She had a feeling that he was a good man underneath it all, but Jenny knew that for some reason, he didn't like her at all. Although she couldn't think why . . . maybe he didn't approve of what she was doing for the ARC by coming up with the cover stories?

Jenny sighed shoved the pillow over her head in an attempt to stop her though process, but it didn't work. She really shouldn't be thinking about Cutter for this long; surely it wasn't healthy for another man to occupy her thoughts this much, especially since she had only known him for . . . what? . . . two days . . .

Jenny concluded that she was only thinking about him because she worked with him. They had shared a dangerous situation together . . . surely that meant that she would think about him a little more? But then another voice in her head chimed in . . . _It's not like you have spent any time thinking about Stephen_ _or Conner_ . . .

_Then again_, reasoned Jenny as she rolled over yet again, _Stephen or Conner haven't just shown up at your door . . ._

********

**Yey, now for the fun part . . . Review if you can **


	4. A bit of bickering never hurt anyone

**Sorry for the lack of updates, been really busy!** **Hope you enjoy . . .**

Chapter 4

It became clear over the following month that Cutter had no intention of resuming the discussion her had started outside Jenny's front door. In fact, Jenny noted that instead talking to her at all, he remained near-enough silent; and if forced to communicate with her at all, it was cold and abrupt, and it usually ended in an argument. However strangely enough, it seemed to Jenny that wherever she went, Cutter was never far away. She knew that she worked with him every day and that they were bound to be in close quarters, but she couldn't help thinking that there was more in it than that. Every time she looked around, he was next to her. Every time they had to drive to an anomaly location, he insisted that he was in the same car as her. Not that Jenny was complaining; his presence had become some-what of a comfort to her. She just wished that he didn't hate her as much as he seemed to.

On one such particular drive to an anomaly site, it was only Jenny and Cutter in the car as Abby, Conner and Stephen were busy dealing with a particularly nasty baby Dimetrodon that had escaped in a shopping centre. Cutter had received a slightly hysterical call from Leek demanding that him and Jenny left immediately to see to another anomaly that had appeared in a patch of woodland a few miles away.

"You're going the wrong way!" Cutter shouted, his face buried behind a map.

"I'm going exactly where you told me too!" Jenny snapped back.

"I told you to take the second left back at the roundabout - you took the first!"

Jenny huffed loudly, and took an incredibly sharp u-turn. Cutter swore loudly and grabbed the dashboard to stop his face slamming into the side window.

"Christ woman!" he yelled. "Have you got a death wish!"

"Oh relax, the road was deserted," Jenny retorted, a slight grin on her face.

Cutter muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked, looking round.

"Nothing," he answered coldly.

"No, go on!"

"Next time, I'm driving," he snapped, fishing around for his seat belt.

"You're the one who can't read a map!" she shouted back.

"I can read a map just fine!" he insisted. "You just can't follow instructions."

Jenny opened her mouth to argue back, but he interrupted:

"Next right, and then we should be there."

Jenny let it drop for the time being, making a mental note to find some way to get him back another time. They pulled up next to a dense patch of trees that extended back for what looked like a mile.

"How the hell are we meant to find the anomaly in there?" Jenny asked, taking the keys out of the ignition.

"Use your eyes," he replied with a slight smile as he got out.

"Shall we split up?" she suggested, as she got out herself and locked the car.

"No," he replied immediately as he turned and walked off into the trees. Jenny sighed loudly and followed close behind.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I say so," he answered simply, increasing his speed.

"Excuse me!" Jenny scoffed, tripping slightly over a small log hidden in the undergrowth. "I think you'll find that I'm your superior! You can't give me orders!"

He stopped abruptly and turned to face her, his face contorted in anger.

"Do you really want to wander around these woods on your own?"

Jenny paused slightly.

"No," she conceded, not able to meet his eye.

"Right then," he said in a rather triumphant tone. "Lets stop wasting time."

Then, to Jenny's utter surprise, he reached out and took her upper arm gently; probably to stop her stumbling again. She allowed him to guide her through the gradual darkness, but for some unbeknown reason, her heart rate quickened slightly at his touch.

They walked for about half an hour in this manner, neither saying anything. Every time Jenny tripped in her heels, Cutter's grip on her arm tightened as he supported her weight to stop her from falling.

"I'm going to have a bruise on my arm in the morning," Jenny winced after the fifth time.

"Well would you prefer me to let you fall flat on your face?" Cutter retorted. "It's your own fault for wearing those stupid heels!"

"When I want your advice on fashion Cutter, I'll ask for it," she snapped.

Cutter snorted, but said nothing; his grip on her arm still firm. They rounded another particularly dense clump of trees, and stopped dead. There was a figure standing in front of them . . . a slightly familiar figure . . .

"Helen?" Cutter said in disbelief, his hold on Jenny's arm tightening as he pulled her closer to him.

Jenny felt an icy feeling in the pit of her stomach - it was Cutter's psychotic ex-wife. What the hell did she want?

"Hello Nick," Helen replied with a smile. "And Miss Lewis is it? I don't believe we've had the pleasure . . ."

Jenny remained silent and stared back at her with loathing; she was not going to allow this woman to play games with her as she seemed to with Cutter. For some reason, Helen seemed to find Jenny's silence rather amusing.

"I have to say, you used to be much more polite - ," she laughed, but Cutter cut her off.

"What do you want Helen?" he snarled.

Helen said nothing but glanced behind them. Before they could turn around, however, Cutter yelped in pain and fell to the floor unconscious. Half a dozen armed soldiers had appeared out of the darkness behind them, and one of them had apparently hit Cutter in the back of the head with a gun. Jenny felt a surge of panic that had nothing to do with fear.

"Cutter!" she exclaimed as she scrambled over to him.

But before she could reach him, someone had clamped something around her mouth and nose and were pulling her backwards into themselves. A horrid smell seemed to engulf her as she tried desperately to free herself. However, her vision seemed to be clouding as she fought to stay conscious . . . and then darkness . . .

********

**Hehe . . . evil cliffhanger I know! I will update as soon as I can!**

**Merry Christmas everyone! X x x**


	5. The count down

**Sorry it's been so long since my last update, I'll try and crank out a few chapters in a row out to make up for it. Enjoy . . .**

Chapter 5

Jenny could hear shuffling around her as her consciousness seemed to be coming back slowly. She couldn't seem to open her heavy eyes. She was vaguely aware that her head was resting on a cold surface and that her hands seemed to be bound behind her back. Her head swam as she tried to remember . . . a vision of Cutter lying on ground unconscious flashed before her and she opened her eyes with a jolt. _Nick!_

She appeared to be in some sort of shack-like building. She could see Cutter a few feet in front of her, still out for the count and bound in the same manner as she herself was. Jenny felt a fresh wave of panic wash over her - where were they? Where was Helen? She tried to free her hands but it was futile - she was tied up extremely tight.

"Ah, Miss Lewis; awake I see," Helen's voice drawled from somewhere on her left.

Jenny tried to look around, but her head felt so weak. However, it was of no matter, as she felt Helen's hands on her shoulders propping her up against the wall. She now had a full view of the tiny room. It seemed that the soldiers had gone, or else were standing guard outside. Helen was pacing up and down the cabin like an impatient cat, looking mildly amused at the situation. Jenny's head pounded so hard that her eyes watered, but she kept her voice forced-calm as she spoke, determined not to give away how frightened she was.

"Wake him up," she demanded, looking at Cutter. It wasn't a request.

"Soon," Helen replied simply, clearly enjoying Jenny worrying.

"What do you want, Helen?"

Helen bent down so that her face was level with Jenny's; her dark, cold eyes searching her own.

"I need answers, Miss Lewis," she whispered. "Answers that only Nick can give me."

"Then why am I here?" Jenny asked, sure that she must fit into Helen's agenda somehow.

Helen hesitated slightly, and considered Jenny for a moment; it was as though she was working out how much to say.

"I'm sure you've noticed that my husband is rather reckless when it comes to his own life?" she enquired.

Jenny ignored the slight pang she felt at Helen's referral of Cutter as her husband and remained silent, allowing her to carry on.

"Well, I'm uncertain as to how successful I will be as extracting said information from him with the threat of a gun to the head," she continued with a slight smile. "But I'm sure that when the gun is pointed as yours, he'll sing like a lark."

Jenny felt a sick swoop of hate for the woman in front of her - just how evil was she? However, Jenny was sure that she had found a gapping hole in her plan.

"Your wasting your time," Jenny informed Helen as she tried to sit up straighter. "That won't make him talk."

"And why ever not?"

"Because he hates me," Jenny answered, looking Helen straight in the eye. "He won't break the official secrets act for me. You would have been better bringing along someone he actually cares about."

"Hates you!" Helen cackled, her eyes glinting. "He has you believing he hates you? Dear Lord Miss Lewis, I thought you were intelligent?"

"And what's that supposed to - " Jenny began, but Helen interrupted.

"God, you people; you just ignore what is right in front of you," she smirked, standing up.

"You need to look deeper."

"Again; I'm lost," Jenny snapped. "If you insist on kidnaping me and holding me hostage, you could at least talk sense when you speak to me!"

"Right, well I'll talk in laments terms," Helen sighed, clearly disappointed by Jenny's lack of understanding. "You know those boys in the school playground that pull the hair of the girl they fancy?"

"Yes, but - "

"Well the girl would be you, and the boy would be Nick," she finished with a smile.

"Your wrong," Jenny insisted, wishing she could sit up with more dignity. "You have no idea what your talking about."

"I disagree," Helen said, looking over at Cutter. "Let's see whose right!"

She picked up what looked like a bucket of water from the corner, and threw it over Cutter. He yelped loudly with the shock, and then looked round quickly.

"Nice of you to join us Nick," Helen sniggered as grabbed him by the coat and hoisted him into a sitting-up position against the opposite wall.

"What are you playing at Helen?!" Cutter exclaimed, but fell silence as he spotted Jenny.

"Let her go," he whispered dangerously.

"As long as you answer my questions, Nick, she'll be perfectly safe - "

"LET HER GO!" he snarled, struggling hard against the rope that bound his hands.

"No, I don't think I will . . ." Helen answered with a smile. "Instead, I think I'll do this - "

She pulled out a gun, and pointed it directly at Jenny's head. Jenny felt her heart race - this was it; this was how she was going to die.

"Helen, don't be stupid," Cutter said, a clear note of panic in his voice. "Put the gun down."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Helen said smugly. "Unless you tell me what I need to know."

"And what is that?"

"I need the code for you're files at the ARC," Helen answered, a twang of longing in her voice. "We have everybody else's; your's is the only one we need, and just happens to be the one we covet the most."

"Whose 'we'?" Cutter asked, voicing the question Jenny herself wanted to know, but the gun in her face hindered her question asking abilities somewhat.

Helen didn't answer, but merely raised her eyebrow and continued to look at Cutter.

"So what's it going to be Nick?" she asked after a while.

"Don't tell her anything!" Jenny exclaimed, finding her voice.

Helen raised the gun and smacked Jenny hard in the face with it. Pain seemed to erupt from the blow, making Jenny's head throb and her vision swim. She felt a hot trickle of blood run down her cheek.

"You shut up!" Helen spat.

"Don't you touch her!" Cutter shouted, fighting harder against his restraints.

"You can save your woman at any time Nick," Helen said, raising the gun again to Jenny's head. "I just need to hear that password; that's all I want."

"If I tell you, how many more people are going to die?" Cutter shouted. "I know you!"

"Well it's your choice," Helen mocked, crouching down to Jenny and cupping her chin. "But it's not like you can resist this face."

"Stop it Helen!" Cutter shouted aggressively.

"By the way, what is it about her Nick?" Helen said, obviously to push Cutter further. "Is it her soft skin? Or is it those big brown eyes - ?"

"Your sick!" Cutter spat. "Just get off her!"

"Your right, I'm getting bored myself now," Helen said with a mock yawn as she straightened up. "So I'm going to give you ten seconds to decide."

"Helen, please - "

"Ten," she began. " . . . Nine . . ."

"Don't say a word, Cutter," Jenny shouted, tears streaming down her face, and her breathing fast. "That's an order!"

" . . . Seven . . ."

"I can't just watch you die!" Cutter yelled back, his eyes glistening.

" . . . Six . . ." Helen continued, loading the gun. " . . . Five . . ."

"It's okay," Jenny whispered to Cutter looking him straight in the eye. She could see the fear in them. "It's going to be okay . . ."

" . . . Four . . ."

"Jenny . . ." Cutter breathed, fiddling with something behind his back.

" . . . Three . . ."

"OKAY!" Cutter shouted. "Okay, I'll tell you!"

"No!" Jenny exclaimed.

"Just lower the gun, and I'll tell you," Cutter said, his voice calm.

Helen hesitated for a second, and then lowered her weapon reluctantly. In a flash, Cutter was across the room and diving on top of her, forcing her to the floor. The gun flew out of Helen's hand and landed on the floor.

"Get the gun!" Cutter shouted to Jenny as he struggled to restrain Helen.

Jenny tried to use her feet to kick the gun away from them, but she couldn't quite reach it.

"I can't!" Jenny yelled back. "I'm still tied up!"

Cutter looked around, spotted the gun, and rolled off the flailing woman across the floor. When he straightened up, the gun was in his hands, pointed directly at Helen.

"Stand up," he ordered, his eyes cold and his hands shaking slightly.

Helen obeyed, and staggered to her feet.

"Nice move Nick," she grimaced, breathing hard. "How did you get out of the knot?"

"SHUT UP!" Cutter spat, moving forward towards her slightly. "Now, who are you working with?"

Helen remained silent, staring back at him.

"Tell me, or I'll shoot."

"Oh, I don't think you'd shoot me Nick," Helen whispered. Then she moved forward.

"Stay where you are!" Cutter shouted, gripping the gun tighter.

Helen ignored him, and approached slowly, placing her forehead on the gun.

"Do it then," she breathed.

Cutter stared back at her, his hands shaking. He couldn't do it; he couldn't pull the trigger on his wife - and Jenny couldn't blame him.

"That's what I thought," Helen said with a smirk, before turning her heel and walking out of the shack.

Cutter let her go, lowering the gun. He paused for a moment, watching the door; probably to make sure she wasn't coming back. Then, he hurried over to Jenny and fumbled to untie her hands. As soon as the rope fell off her wrists, Jenny couldn't help but throw her arms around Cutter, clutching him tight. She half expected him to throw her off, but after a slight pause, he wrapped his arm around her as well, pulling her closer into himself. Relief seemed to wash over Jenny as he held her; so much so that she couldn't stop tears falling thick and fast from her eyes. Before she knew it, she was sobbing into his shirt.

"Shhh," Cutter whispered into her hair as he rocked her slightly. "It's okay; I'll never let anything happen to you."

Jenny nodded into his shirt. They stayed there for God-knows how long as Jenny composed herself; Cutter never rushing her. When her breathing had steadied and her heart rate had returned back to normal, she pulled away and looked up at him. He took her chin in his fingers and turned her head sidewards.

"That looks awful," he said through gritted teeth. "You'll need stitches."

Jenny assumed he was talking about the state of her cheek bone after Helen had smacked her.

_Great,_ she thought as Cutter helped her to her feet. _How was she going to explain it to Mark?_

Cutter bent down to pick up the gun to take with them. He caught Jenny's eye and seemed to understand her quizzical look.

"Incase her soldier boys are out there somewhere," he said. "Can you walk?"

Jenny nodded again, worried that if she spoke, her voice would crack. The last thing she wanted was to have another break down in front of him; she didn't want him thinking she was weak.

Cutter put his arm around his waist to steady her as she walked, and led her through the woods searching for the car. Unconsciously, Jenny rested her forehead on his shoulder, unable to believe that wandering through the woods with a busted-up face, a gun and an unbalanced ex-wife on the loose with six soldiers could still feel safe when she was with him.

********


	6. Stay here

Chapter 6

Jenny's face had been stitched up by a medic at the ARC with the promise that it would heal in time without scarring, and her and Cutter had been summoned to Lester's office for a debriefing. They explained everything from getting the call off Leek to Helen running off again. When they finished, Lester let out a sigh.

"Unfortunately, it looks as though Leek has . . . how would you put it . . . done a bunk," he said, leaning back in his chair. "He's been working against us all along."

"Well, what now?" Cutter demanded, standing up in his frustration and walking around the room.

"We have every available soldier out looking for them, which is rather difficult since Helen can jump through time at a seconds notice," Lester said with his fingers at his temple. "And I think that you two should stay here for a while."

"Why?" asked Jenny, sitting up in her chair.

"Helen's targeted you once," Lester pointed out. "She may do so again."

"I can't just stay here indefinitely!" Jenny said in disbelief. "I have a life!"

Cutter looked away from her at this point, probably because she had come so close to mentioning Mark. Jenny blushed slightly, but remained adamant that she couldn't stay.

"Well the choice is ultimately yours," Lester simpered. "I think it is something you should consider, even if it is just for one night."

Jenny opened her mouth to speak, but Lester had already waved them away, which was their cue to leave his office. Jenny got to her feet and walked straight out, not even looking as Cutter as she passed him.

********

Jenny was sitting in her office with her bare legs up on her desk, flicking through some files without even really taking in there content. She was still torn between staying at the ARC and going home. She wanted to be in her own bed, and get in her own shower in the morning, and wear her own clothes; not the generic pants and tops they had in bulk at the ARC. However, she couldn't deny that she'd feel safer were she was. The building was secure . . . Cutter was here . . .

As though he had read her mind, there was a knock at her door, and Cutter poked his head around. When he spotted her, he chuckled.

"Are you laughing at me?" she asked with a smile, indicating her rather informal reclining position.

"Yes," he answered as he entered and closed the door behind himself.

Jenny blushed, but didn't move from her position; it was her office after all - she could sit in it however she liked. Cutter moved around the desk and sat on it so that he was leaning against her legs. Strangely, Jenny didn't mind one bit, except that her stomach had done a black flip - why did this man effect her like this?

"So what can I do for you Cutter?" she said as she chucked the file on the desk next to him.

"I want you to stay here tonight," he replied.

This caught Jenny completely off guard. She froze and looked up into his eyes.

"Why?" she asked, aware that she was rather enjoying the feel of him next to her.

"Because you'll be safer here," he insisted, his hand unconsciously brushing up against her leg. Her heart pounded so hard that she was actually scared he might hear it.

"Are you staying too?" she enquired, forcing her voice steady.

"Yes," he answered quietly.

"And you want me to stay here with you all night?"

"Yes."

Jenny paused and considered him for a moment with a slight smile. The thought of staying here with him all night made her heart race. But that meant that it was a really bad idea. But despite this - she couldn't help herself.

"Where would we sleep?" she asked quietly, as though she thought that somewhere, somehow, Mark could hear this discussion.

"They've got a room here," Cutter answered, not looking her in the eye.

"Just one?" Jenny laughed in disbelief.

"For now, but their building more in the future I think - "

"So . . . what? - Do you expect me to share a bed with you?" Jenny asked, rather amused at the flustered look that appeared on Cutter's face.

"No, no," he spluttered. "I'll sleep in my office! I didn't mean - "

"Cutter, it's okay!" she laughed. "I know what you meant."

Cutter nodded, and smiled slightly. They were silent for a while; it was one of those comfortable silences, however - one that wasn't suffocating or awkward. Jenny was actually enjoying his company for once.

"So will you stay?" he asked again.

"Well - "

"Please," he said, placing his hand on her leg; or more specifically - her thigh. And rather high up on her thigh come to that.

It seemed that Jenny had been winded. She should throw his hand off; no - she should slap him . . . but she couldn't. In fact, she wanted him to go further . . . she wanted him to lean forward and kiss her. And for a second, it looked like he was about to . . . he was so close that she could feel his hot breath tickling her face . . .

Then Jenny's phone started buzzing on the desk. They jumped apart violently, and Jenny swung her legs off the desk and scrambled to answer it. She knew who it was before she heard his voice.

"Mark," she said in a rather shaky voice.

"Hiya gorgeous, what time are you coming home?"

"Er . . ." she began.

Cutter stood up from the desk and left her office silently. Jenny felt like he had taken her heart with him.

"Jen?"

"Er, soon . . . can you come and pick me up?" she asked, thinking that staying here with Cutter was no longer a good idea.

********


	7. The organiser

Chapter 7

It had been weeks since Helen had kidnaped Jenny and Cutter, and things had pretty much gone back to normal. Security at the ARC was more intense that ever, however, as neither Helen or Leek had been spotted since. This was rather unsettling; they were bound to be off planning something diabolical. In relation to Cutter, however, things were as they always had been; he didn't speak to her unless forced to do otherwise, but he stuck to her like glue.

This was fine with Jenny - she had no idea what she had been playing at. She loved Mark . . . she really did. That thing with Cutter was just . . . post-traumatic stress or something. He had saved her - she was grateful. There was no more to it than that. So she followed his lead, and treated him with the same coldness he showed her.

On one particular day, Jenny was doing some filing in the ARC main room while Cutter sat in silence near her at the Anomaly Detector. Abby came sprinting down the ramp cheering at the top of her lungs and waving her hands in the air.

"What?" asked Jenny, slightly irritated by the loud noise.

"Lester's finally agreed to let us have a Christmas night out!" Abby exclaimed, nearly bobbing up and down with excitement.

Both Cutter and Jenny exchanged a rare glance before looking back at Abby with questioning looks. Her smile faltered at their lack of enthusiasm.

"Come on guys!" she said, clearly aspirated. "It's a Christmas party!"

"I've never really liked Christmas," Jenny admitted, returning to her paperwork. "Mark's usually always away on some business trip."

From beside her Cutter snorted, but she ignored him.

"Yeah, but this is a chance to all have a drink together!" Abby pointed.

"Abby, we've had a drink together before," Jenny laughed.

"Yeah, but not at Christmas!" she argued, as though that settled the matter.

Jenny rolled her eyes, but couldn't help smiling at the girls excitement.

"So will you come?" Abby asked. "You can bring your boyfriend too if you want?"

"Fiancee," Jenny corrected her - somehow 'boyfriend' made her sound about fifteen. Again, Cutter snorted but Jenny ignored him as before.

"Yeah, I'd love to come," she continued. "I'll see if Mark can get the time off."

For the third time, Cutter snorted as though he was doing it unconsciously. That was the last straw; Jenny lost her temper.

"I'm sorry - can I help you with something?!" she snapped, slamming her hands on the desk and looking around at him.

Cutter put his two hands up in front of him and swivelled back around to face the detector. Abby looked from one to the other, evidently confused.

"So . . ." she continued, attempting to gloss over the particularly awkward moment. "It's going to be on the twelfth of December, I'm going to book a hall for us."

"Sounds great," Jenny said stiffly, putting her attention back on the files.

"Unless . . ." Abby continued.

"Unless what?" Jenny said, not looking up.

"Unless you want to organize it?" Abby said tentively.

"What?" laughed Jenny, looking up at her in disbelief; Cutter chuckling from behind her.

"You're much better at that sort of stuff than me!" Abby insisted quickly. "You'll be able to get the best price and the best venue and everything."

"Abby - "

"Come on Jen, it'll be a much better party if you organize it!"

Jenny sighed and looked up at Abby's face; her expression pleading.

"Okay, fine I'll do it," Jenny conceded.

"Yes!" Abby shouted, bouncing away; probably to go and tell Conner the 'good' news.

Jenny sighed and looked around to find Cutter staring at her.

"Not a word," she said to him.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said, turning back around.

********

Jenny went to bed that night exhausted after arguing with about a dozen different people on the phone. Finally, she had managed to book a posh hall for half the normal price, hired caterers and sorted all of the decorations. She turned around to face Mark, who was breathing heavily next to her.

"Hunnie?" she said quietly.

"Hmm?" he replied without opening his eyes.

"I've got a work party thing on the twelfth," she informed him. "Can you come?"

He opened his eyes and turned on his side to face her.

"The twelfth . . . the twelfth . . ." he muttered. "I think I'm away until the thirteenth babe."

"Right," she sighed, turning her back to him.

"I'm sorry," he said, hugging her from behind and kissing her neck. "Are you mad?"

"No," she replied honestly. She was sure she'd have more fun without him there anyway - she was just asking for a formality.

"Good," he whispered, nuzzling into her more, his hand traveling around her waist and up under her pj top.

"Not tonight," Jenny said immediately. "Long day."

Mark scowled, rolled back over and was asleep in minutes.

********


	8. The uninvited guest

Chapter 8

The twelfth came around exceedingly fast as those things you dread usually do. Jenny found herself in front of her mirror applying a copious amount of lipstick; it was a custom that the more nervous she was about something, the more lipstick she put on. Why was she so nervous? Was it the fact that if anything went wrong it would be her fault? No that wasn't it - why would she really care about that? Was it the fact that she would be spending an entire night with Cutter without Mark present and with a free bar? Maybe . . .

She put this thought to the back of her mind as she straightened her hair and picked out a dress. She put it on and considered herself in the mirror again. It was a black number that showed off her legs and her chest rather obviously; so obviously in fact that the thought of Cutter's face when he saw her in it actually made her laugh out loud. God, what was the matter with her?

She arrived at the party when it had already started, which was rather bad form for the organizer, but couldn't be helped. And anyway, everything seemed to be going according to plan. The decorations looked beautiful, the buffet looked stunning, and people seemed to be enjoying themselves. Jenny scanned the room and spotted Lester chatting away to a bunch of stiff-collard pen-pushers. She also spied Abby, Stephen and Conner talking in the corner. The only person she couldn't see was Cutter.

Then she spotted him over at the gigantic bar . . . with a woman! He was sitting next to a young blonde girl and seemed in deep conversation. The woman was fluttering her eyelashes and flicking her hair so much that it was sickening. Jenny felt unjustified jealousy bubble over as she watched him smiling at her - why was he with her? Who was she? Jenny took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself - she really had no business feeling like this; Cutter was a free agent. He could date anyone he wanted; even stick-thin, leggy bimbo's like her . . .

As she watched them, the woman put her hand on Cutter's shoulder before walking off. Jenny decided to go over, kidding herself that she wanted a drink when all's she really wanted was some answers.

"Bit young for you isn't she Cutter?" she said coldly as she took a seat on the stool the other side of him.

He turned around to look at her and smirked.

"She's your age," he mumbled, taking another swig of his whiskey.

"Classy," Jenny said, trying hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "Tell me, when did she graduate from Barbie's dream house?"

"God, you get very catty when your jealous," Cutter pointed out, draining his remaining drink. "Can I get you a drink?"

"White wine please," she answered. "And I'm not jealous."

"Oh no?" Cutter enquired before ordering the drinks.

"No, I'm merely concerned," Jenny answered.

"About what?"

"Well there are a lot of tables in here," she answered, taking a sip of her drink. "I'm afraid that your date might mistake this place for the strip joint she works at and go to town on them."

Cutter nearly spat out his drink laughing.

"She's not my date," he admitted when he had stopped. "She's actually a technician at the ARC; you would know that if you weren't to snobby to actually get to know your colleagues."

Jenny laughed.

"As apposed to you, who goes around introducing himself to the mice," she retorted.

"Did you come over hear to insult me or was it just an added bonus?" Cutter tittered.

"I came over here for a drink actually, and you happily obliged," she smiled, indicating her glass.

"Shouldn't your fiancee be getting you your drink?" Cutter said from behind his whisky glass.

"He's away actually," Jenny informed him.

"Where?"

"I don't know . . . Paris, China . . ."

"Nice to see that you love him so much to confirm," Cutter muttered.

"And what would you know?" Jenny snapped.

"I know that I like to know what continent the people I care about are on."

"You don't even know what time zone your wife is in," Jenny pointed out, ignoring the burning anger she felt at what Cutter was insinuating.

"Ex-wife actually," Cutter corrected her. "And I don't care about Helen anymore."

"Then who are you talking about then?"

"YOU!" he exclaimed. Then, he turned bright red and continued. "And . . . you know . . . Abby, Conner . . . Stephen . . . I wouldn't go as far as to say Lester, but you get the picture."

"Right," said Jenny quietly, feeling herself blushing. Had he just said what she thought he had said?

There was a long rather awkward pause, were both of them just sipped their drinks in silence.

"Look - " Cutter began, but was cut off by a rather familiar voice.

"Jen!" said Mark as he appeared next to her side.

"M-mark," stammered Jenny in total shock; she was not expecting him at all! "W-what are you doing here?"

"I took an earlier flight," he replied, kissing her on the cheek. Then he turned to Cutter. "Not interrupting anything am I?"

"No," both Jenny and Cutter said in unison.

"Darling, this is Professor Nick Cutter," Jenny said as she stood up; it was an attempt to cover up that particularly guilty-sounding answer. "He's my colleague."

"Right," Mark said, still sounding a bit suspicious. He held out his hand, which Cutter took. "I'm Mark Banks, Jen's fiancee."

"Nice to meet you," Cutter nodded curtly, with a quick glance at Jenny.

As soon as they broke the hand shake, Mark wrapped his arms around Jenny's waist and rested his hands on her stomach in a way that he certainly hadn't done her in years. She shuddered to herself; this was what would be called marking his territory. She noted that Cutter's eyes followed Mark's touch, and then darted away quickly. She peeled his arms off herself gently so as not to look like she was embarrassed to be touched this way in front of Cutter.

"Can I get you a drink?" she asked Mark rather breathlessly.

"No, I'll get them in," he answered. "Nick?"

"Nothing for me thank you," Cutter answered abruptly. "If you'll excuse me . . ." He got up and walked off.

"Is that the guy who knocked at our house that time?" Mark demanded.

"Er . . . yeah, I think so," Jenny answered quietly, her heart beat quickening. _He knows . . . _

"What do you mean you think so?"he hissed.

"I thought you were getting us a drink?" she said nervously. He sighed and placed his order with the barman_. _He had obviously decided to let it drop for the time being.

They spent the rest of the night mingling with everyone. Jenny introduced Mark to Lester, who he seemed to get on famously with. She also introduced him to Abby, Conner and Stephen, who were a little less thrilled with him. She was sure it was down to some deep-seated loyalty to Cutter. But they were nice and polite to him, and Mark only stared at Abby's breasts twice to Jenny's count, so he was on his best behavior too. Cutter, however, seemed to have disappeared.

A short while later, Jenny found herself staggering around the maze of corridors looking for the toilet. She was just about to give up and go and ask Abby to show her where they were, before she bumped head first into someone.

"Watch were you're - " Jenny began, but stopped abruptly - it was Cutter.

He reached out and grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

"You're drunk," he said to her, barely suppressing a grin.

"I'm not!" she insisted, before falling back against the wall giggling.

"Yes, you are," smirked Cutter, holding her up against the wall.

"So, I bet you are too!" she accused him, grabbing onto his jacket for support.

"Probably," he said simply.

Jenny looked up at the ceiling for some unbeknown reason, and spotted something hanging from the chandelier above them.

"Mistletoe," she said, before she could stop herself.

Cutter glanced up as well. When he looked back down at her, she could have sworn that he lent in slightly. He wouldn't would he? With her fiancee here, as well as their boss and colleagues?! But he was . . . he was leaning in. Her pulse raced and her breath seemed to quicken . . . his lips were only inches away from hers . . . he reached out and brushed her hair away from her face gently.

"You look so beautiful tonight Jenny Lewis," he whispered in that husky Scottish accent.

Jenny was speechless. He leaned in further and brushed his lips against hers softly, his stubble tickling her slightly. Then it seemed that he was about to pull away again. Before she could stop herself, Jenny had grabbed his jacket tighter and pulled him onto her again. He moaned slightly with surprised, but he didn't break the kiss; instead he pinned her arms to the wall roughly as the kiss intensified. She gasped, and ran her hands up his back under his jacket and pulled him in closer, determined to shorten the distance between them considerably more. He let go of her wrists, and let his touch wander downwards her arms to her waist . . . down her back . . .

********

From behind the door, Mark watched through the tiny window on it. Anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach as he watched some guy pushed his fiancee against the wall; watched as he kissed her; watched as he ran his hands all over her . . .

All Mark wanted to do was kill the bastard; Jenny was his! She belonged to him! But the grammar school boy inside him told him to resist. What if he had a black eye for his meeting on Monday?

So he took one last look at them before walking off, ignoring the tears in his eyes.

********


	9. Party pooper

Chapter 9

Jenny never wanted this kiss to end . . . she loved the way he touched her with his rough yet gentle fingers. He reached downwards and scratched up her thigh faintly, lifting her dress as he went. Then Jenny realised that she was enjoying herself way too much; this was going too far - despite how drunk she was she knew that she couldn't have sex with him against the wall of a corridor in a posh hotel with Mark here. So with a humongous effort, she wrenched her lips away from his and pushed him back hard so that he hit the opposite wall. They both looked at each other, breathing hard.

"I'm sorry," Cutter gasped, rubbing his forehead. "I went too far."

"No . . ." Jenny replied. In truth, yes he had gone too far. But it wasn't like she was complaining.

"Yeah, I did," he said quietly. "Mistletoe hey?"

"Yeah," Jenny laughed nervously. "It's the Rohypnol of the plant world."

Cutter smiled back, but couldn't quite meet her eye. They stood in silence for a long while, unable to shake off the heat of passion that had just enveloped them.

"Well, I better find those toilets," Jenny said finally.

"Right, right . . ." Cutter replied. "Well, I guess I'll see you out there."

"Yeah . . ."

Eventually, Jenny came across the toilets and a glimpsed herself in the mirror; her lipstick was awfully smudged, her hair was tousled, and her bra strap was hanging down her arm. She hastily re-adjusted herself and made her way back to the hall, unable to even think about meeting Mark in the eye when she saw him.

However, when she returned to the party, Mark was no where to be seen. Jenny walked up to an also rather disheveled looking Cutter who was propping up one side of the bar.

"Have you seen Mark?" she asked him quietly as she stood next to him.

"No, he wasn't in here when I came back," he replied, not looking at her.

"Well, where is he then?"

"I don't know, do I?" Cutter snapped, as though he thought she was asking him to purposely hurt him.

Suddenly Abby and Conner appeared by their side with their usual air of excitement.

"Lester said we've all got to get up and dance," Abby said rather breathlessly. "He thinks the party's a bit dull if no one starts up the dance floor."

"I can't, I've got to find Mark," Jenny said shortly, scanning the room with her eyes.

"It'll only take a few minutes!" Conner pleaded; he clearly didn't want him and Abby to be the only two people dancing. "Please Jenny!"

"Well - "

"Cutter will dance with you won't you?" Abby interjected, thumping Cutter on the back.

"I can't - " Cutter began.

"Yes you can Professor," Conner teased. "You look like you could do with cheering up!"

"I - "

"So that's settled then," Abby said as though that was the end of it.

She grabbed Jenny and Cutter's hand, and with surprising strength, pulled both of them onto the dance floor. She let go of them, and began to dance with Conner to the slow song that was playing. Both Jenny and Cutter stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, before realising that the whole room was staring at them. Cutter put his hand out and she took it. He pulled her in slightly and placed his other hand on her waist. Jenny ignored the fact that her heart was beating so fast it was in danger of bursting out of her chest and placed her hand on his shoulder. They began to dance slowly.

Jenny forgot that the room was watching; she forgot that Mark himself may even be able to see them. She moved closer to Cutter, and he shifted his hand around her and ran it down slowly so that it was on the small of her back. Jenny was so close to him that she could smell the whiskey on his breath, and she remembered the way he tasted . . .

"I'm an awful dancer sorry," he mumbled in her ear.

"You're not so bad," Jenny whispered back.

The song changed to a slightly faster one, although it was still a slow song. A few more couples joined the dance floor, including Lester and a middle-aged woman that looked rather sharp like a bird.

As the music was faster paced, it became substantially more difficult to dance to. Before Jenny had a chance to suggest to Cutter that they should sit this one out, he twirled her twice. She fell back into him giggling, and looked up to see that he was laughing too.

"Aww how sweet," said a cold voice from beside them.

They looked around and immediately dropped their hands that had previously been clinging to each other. It was Mark.

"Where have you been?" Jenny asked him, attempting to smile.

"Around," he answered shortly, staring at Cutter. "Well, you look like you're having fun. Jenny's great in the sack isn't she Nick?"

Jenny felt her stomach go cold . . . he had seen them.

"Excuse me?" Cutter said, a disgusted look on his face as he stared back at Mark.

"I'm just complimenting you on you're excellent taste when you chose to sleep with my fiancee," Mark snarled. "She's the best I've ever had, let me tell you. How about you?"

People were starting to look around now as Mark's voice was rising.

"Mark - " began Jenny, trying to grab his arm, but he wrenched it away from her.

"Don't touch me you slut!" he yelled.

"Watch your mouth!" Cutter shouted back.

"Mark, just listen - " Jenny pleaded, but he had already turned and stormed out towards the exit.

She looked around at Cutter who gave her a nod that clearly said 'go after him', so she followed, ignoring the fact that everyone in the room was now staring at her.

"Mark!" she shouted as she reached him.

He swung around, and she was shocked to see that he was crying.

"Go on then, let me hear your excuses!" he roared at her.

"Just calm down - "

"CALM DOWN?!" he bellowed, his face shocking red. "I just found out that you've been screwing some guy at work and you tell me to calm down?"

"I haven't sleep with him!" Jenny insisted truthfully. "It was just a kiss!"

"Yeah right - "

"I swear it was!" she continued. "And it was the first time!"

"It sure didn't look like the first time!" he insisted.

"Well it was!" she maintained. "There was mistletoe, and we just got carried away!"

"So your blaming this on mistletoe?" he said in disbelief.

"Yes!"

"So you're not attracted to him at all?" he demanded.

Jenny hesitated. She might as well be honest with him now.

"Yes, I'm attracted to him," Jenny admitted finally, not looking him in the eye. "I don't know how or why; I just am."

Mark scowled loudly and turned to walk away again. But Jenny was losing her temper now; he was such a hypocrite!

"Go on then Mark," she shouted after him. "Tell me that you've never been attracted to anyone else. No, in fact go one better - tell me you've never slept with anyone else!"

He stopped and turned back around.

"That was different," he stated.

"Why, because it was you?" she spat back. "I forgave you when I found out about all your little affairs."

"That was just sex Jen!" he exclaimed as if to make her stop.

"Just sex," she repeated quietly, fury pumping through her and tears glistening in her eyes. "Why wasn't I enough?"

"You were; you are!" he insisted, moving closer. "But you weren't there; it was when I was away - you know all of this, why are you bringing it up?"

"Because I'm having a little difficulty understanding why I can forgive you for that, but you can't forgive me for a _kiss!_ "

"But it's not just a kiss is it?" Mark burst out suddenly, giving her a fright. "You've fallen in love with him!"

"I - I what?" Jenny spluttered, completely taken aback. Why would he think that?

"I can see it in you're eyes!" he spat. "The way you look at him . . . you can tell that you're in love with him."

Jenny couldn't think of what to say; she wanted to deny it - she wanted to tell Mark that he was the only one she loved. But she couldn't do it.

"See you can't even deny it can you Jen?"

She paused for a long while, and then shook her head.

"No," she replied in a mouse whisper.

Mark nodded, and bit his lip. He stared at the floor.

"See, that's the difference between us," he said quietly. "I may have slept with other girls, but I've never fell in love with anyone else. It's always been you Jen. Always."

Tears fell fast from Jenny's face as she watched him walk away, unable to say anything that would bring him back.

********

From the next corridor, Cutter lent with his back against the wall listening to the two of them arguing. He had followed incase Mark had lashed out at Jenny, ready to give him a good smack. He heard them talking about Mark's affairs and felt a rush of sympathy towards Jenny; however much of a front she put up at work, and however much of a bitch she seemed at times, she didn't deserve that at all. Why would the fool sleep with anyone else when he had her in his bed?

Then he heard something that stopped his heart - Jenny admitted that she was in love with him. With _him_ - Nick Cutter. How on earth did that happened? He had been so distant with her - so cold. Of course, he was head over heels in love with her; had been since the first time he saw her. But that was because she was an alternate reality Claudia Brown. Although now it seemed different. SHE was different. But he still loved her. In fact, he'd go as far as to say that he loved her more. Did that mean that he now loved Jenny Lewis and not Claudia Brown? Had he fallen for Jenny in a different way than he had with Claudia?

His thought process was stopped when he heard Jenny crying by herself. Mark had evidently walked off. He rounded the corner and found her sitting next to the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest and her head in her arms sobbing. She looked so vulnerable; he had never seen her like this before. Even when she had a gun pointed at her head by Helen, she still had her head held high. Now however, she seemed broken.

_We men are vile creatures,_ Cutter thought to himself as he approached her. She didn't even look up.

"Come on," he said gently as he bent down level with her.

She raised her head to look at him; evidently she had recognised his voice. She smiled slightly upon seeing him, although tears still fell from her eyes.

"Come on," Cutter repeated, as he reached out and grabbed her upper arm gently to hoist her up.

"Come on where?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly, although she allowed him to help her to her feet.

"I'll take you back to my place," he whispered, wiping the tears away from under her eyes.

"No, I'm okay," she insisted.

"I don't mean . . . like that," Cutter said, blushing slightly. He wanted to make it absolutely clear that he wasn't after sex. "I just mean . . . well you can't go home tonight, and I've got a spare room. In fact, I've got two spare rooms if the first one isn't up to your standards . . ."

Jenny giggled slightly, and then looked at him hard.

"Are you sure?" she asked quietly.

"Of course," Cutter insisted, meaning every word.

Jenny smiled and nodded in agreement. Cutter put his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the back exit to get a taxi; he didn't think she would like to walk back through the function room with all those staring eyes.

********

**PHEW - my fingers are cramping lol! Review if you feel like it please :-D**


	10. Welcome to Cutter's

Chapter 10

Cutter opened up the living room door and turned on the light. Jenny was pleasantly surprised; it was a cosy area full of furniture and papers. It had a real log fire in the centre of the wall and a rather magnificent marble fire surround. The lighting was soft and really complemented the dark red walls and the dark brown sofa. There was also a Grand Piano in the corner. For a second, Jenny actually forgot to feel upset.

"It's beautiful in here," she said quietly, looking around at Cutter.

"Thank you," he smiled back. "Can I get you anything . . . a drink maybe?"

"No thanks," Jenny replied, thinking that all she wanted to do is go to sleep and forget this day ever happened. "I'm actually pretty tired, is it okay if I . . ."

"Of course," he said quickly.

He led her upstairs and down the landing, stopping outside the last door.

"You take my room," he said opening the door.

"No Cutter, I don't mind taking the spare - "

"No way, you'll take mine," he insisted, waving his hands. "I'll let you get some rest."

Jenny smiled and watched him walk away, before she remembered something.

"Cutter?" she said.

He turned around.

"Could you perhaps lend me a top or something?" she asked indicating her dress. "You know, to sleep in?"

"Ah," he said with a smile. "I'll have a look."

He walked past her and into his bedroom, and Jenny tried to ignore the way her heart pounded faster as he brushed against her. He rummaged in his wardrobe and pulled out a long white t-shirt.

"Will this do?" he asked rather sheepishly, holding it up.

"Perfect," Jenny smiled, taking it off him. "And you don't happen to have any baby wipes do you? My makeup must look awful . . ."

"Baby wipes?" he repeated, sounding rather confused.

"Yeah."

"Why on earth would I have baby wipes when I have no baby to wipe them with?"

Jenny laughed, rather aspirated.

"It doesn't matter," she smiled.

There was an awkward silence for a moment as they just looked at each other. Jenny felt slightly ashamed of herself for allowing Cutter to she her in the state he had; the last thing she wanted to do was appear emotionally weak. It was something she had strived not to be her entire life. She hated the fact that he had seen her in tears over a break up.

"Well, I best . . ." Cutter began.

"Yeah . . ." Jenny said, blushing slightly.

He made to walk past her, but he seemed to slow down as he reached her. He leaned in and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Night," he whispered, before walking out of the door.

"Goodnight Nick," she whispered back, her skin still tingling where he had kissed her.

He turned around and smiled at her at the use of his first name, before walking to the next room and shutting the door. Jenny closed her door as well, and lent against it with a sigh. She was such a bad person - she had just broken up with her fiancee, and all she could think about was Nick Cutter. All that she wanted to do was ask him to spend the night with her. She wanted to feel his arms around her, holding her close. She wanted his breath on her skin . . . but she couldn't. She didn't want to appear desperate. With a sigh, she reached around and unzipped the back of her dress, unable to stop her mind wandering to the thought of Cutter doing it for her instead . . .

********

Cutter sunk onto his bed with a sigh. He couldn't quite believe what had happened tonight. Technically, he had got everything he had wanted - Jenny was now single. And she loved him. So why did he feel this burning disappointment? Was it because he knew he couldn't make a move yet? After all, she was in a vulnerable position, and the last thing he wanted to do was take advantage of her. But he couldn't help but imagine her in the room next to him. What was she doing right now? Perhaps she was thinking the same thing as him? Maybe she didn't want him to leave her any more than he wanted to. Before he had even had time to stop himself, he had opened his door, crossed the corridor and knocked quickly on her door. Before waiting for her to answer, he barged in -

To be confronted with Jenny's naked back . . .

She turned her head around quickly so that her hair flicked over her shoulder.

"Cutter!" she shrieked, holding the t-shirt tight over her chest.

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, backing out of the room and slamming the door shut. "Er . . . sleep well!"

He practically ran back to his room and leaned against his door breathing hard. He was an idiot. An IDIOT! Why hadn't he waited for her to respond? He had to go blundering in there like an ape. God, she'll think he had walked in on her changing on purpose! Grumbling, he pulled his shirt off and lay down on the bed, his cheeks still burning with embarrassment. He closed his eyes and immediately the image of Jenny's back popped up in his head as though it was a recording that had been waiting to play. The way her spine curved in slightly at the bottom; the way her waist narrowed considerably . . . it was a shame really that the unzipped dress covered her backside, as he was sure it would have been a lovely sight as well . . . NO he couldn't think about her like that. Not tonight; not when she needed him to act like a gentleman. He rolled over and tried not to think about her . . . in his bed . . . with nothing but his thin white t-shirt on . . .

He fell into an uneasy asleep.

********

Jenny breathed hard, trying to get over the shock of Cutter walking in on her half naked.

_His face looked a picture though_, she thought to herself, trying hard to suppress a giggle. _He looked mortified!_

She pulled on Cutter's t-shirt and stepped out of the rest of her dress. She wandered if she should go and knock on his door and let him know that she wasn't mad about it; knowing Cutter as she did, she was sure that he would be almost pulling his hair out for his hastiness in barging in. But then she smiled at herself, deciding that it would be better to let him stew for a while. Well it would be funnier for her anyway.

She got into Cutter's bed, noticing that it smelt like him. The thought of him sleeping here every night made her feel rather tingly. She buried her head in the pillows, taking in his scent deeper. God, she really did have it bad . . .

*

Jenny woke with a start; she couldn't even remember falling asleep. She was confused as to what woke her up so suddenly; then she heard it . . . Cutter was yelling as loud as if he would have been next to her. It was a blood-curdling sound that filled Jenny with fear; something was hurting him.

She scrambled out of the sheets in a panic, almost falling into the door in her haste. She wrenched it open and sprinted to his room. When she burst in, she was shocked to see that Cutter was quite alone, but still yelling at the top of his lungs. She approached him and noticed that his eyes were closed - he was asleep!

"Cutter!" she shouted, perching on the bed next to him . "Can you hear me?"

He was flailing and shaking his head; his eyes still firmly shut. Jenny leaned over him and hastily placed her hands on either side of his face.

"Nick? NICK!" she cried, shaking him roughly.

His eyes flickered open. They focused on her, and he sat up immediately, scrambling away from her touch as though he didn't recognize her. His breathing was hard and irregular.

"Nick, it's me," she whispered gently. "You were shouting . . ."

He seemed to sigh with relief; his body relaxing slightly.

"Yeah," he breathed, running his hand over his forehead. "That happens sometimes. I'm sorry; did I scare you?"

"No, don't worry about it," Jenny replied, completely untruthfully.

She realised that she was still leaning over him. She went to back off slightly, but Cutter pulled her back, his hands on her hips.

"Stay with me?" he asked in a husky whisper.

Before Jenny had even given herself a second to think about it, she nodded. Cutter increased the pressure on her hips and pulled her forward onto himself. Jenny's heart pounded fit to burst as his hands slid up her thighs and pulled her in tighter, his mouth searching for hers almost hungrily. She kissed him back with tremendous enthusiasm; after all, this had been a long time coming. She gasped as his hands wandered further up, pulling her top off as it went, loving the way he could be so rough and yet so tender at the same time. They spent the entire night together; all the tension that she had felt the past weeks; all those unresolved feelings and bottled up emotions seemed to spill out.

********

Cutter opened his eyes, and for a second, couldn't remember for the life of him why he was in the spare room. Then he remembered everything, and couldn't help but smile as he went to look over at Jenny - only to find that she wasn't lying next to him anymore. Cutter sat up quickly. Where on earth had she gone? It didn't seem like her to just walk out afterwards, and anyway; it's not like she could go home . . . then a horrible thought struck him that made his insides burn: what if she'd gone back home? What if she had realised that she had made a terrible mistake when she slept with him, and decided to go back to Mark? No, no . . . Jenny wouldn't do that; she loved him. Why would she go back to that swine? Maybe it was because he didn't meet up to her expectations in the bedroom? But she did seem to enjoy it at the time . . .

The bedroom door opened slowly and Jenny crept in. She saw that he was awake, and sighed.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked quietly as she walked over to him. He was rather thrilled to see that she was wearing his shirt.

"No, I just woke up and wandered where you went," Cutter replied, before nearly kicking himself; he was sure he was acting to clingy.

"I needed a drink," she answered with a smile as she got back into bed. "Why where did you think I'd gone?"

"I dunno . . ." Cutter mumbled, as he lay back down next to her. "I thought maybe . . . maybe you'd had second thoughts."

"What, and just done the bunk on you in the middle of the night?" she laughed.

"Well . . ." he replied. Now that he thought about it, it did seem rather stupid.

Jenny leaned forward and kissed him gently.

"Sometimes Nick; you can be so neurotic," she whispered, stroking her face.

Cutter closed his eyes at her touch and leaned into it. Is this what heaven felt like?

"I think I'll be needing that shirt back Miss Lewis," he whispered in her ear.

She giggled, and kissed him again, unbuttoning the shirt as she did so.

********


	11. The tamperer

Chapter 11

Jenny pulled up outside her house in a taxi, her heart beating fast. She was not in the mood to see Mark at all, let alone be treated to another one of his rants. But she needed to get some of her things; she couldn't spend the rest of the week in the dress she was wearing and Cutter's shirts, no matter how much he would be thrilled at the prospect. She smiled slightly upon thinking about him; he had been amazing throughout this whole thing. He had even offered to come here with her for mortal support. She had declined however; this was something she had to do alone.

She let herself in without announcing herself; it was still half her house after all - she wouldn't let him take that away from her. He might not even be in. He certainly didn't appear to be. She ran straight up to the bedroom, knowing that most of her stuff was in there - her clothes, her makeup etc. She opened the door and froze . . .

Mark was in her bed with another woman.

He looked up from . . . whoever the hell it was he was doing and smirked.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" he simpered, his eyes twinkling evilly.

The blonde girl next to him didn't look at all perplexed by Jenny's entrance. On the contrary, she looked rather bored by the proceedings. Jenny steadied her breath, ignoring the sick swooping sensation she felt in her stomach. When she spoke, she ensured that she used the most condescending voice she could.

"Sorry darling, I didn't realise we had a guest."

Mark laughed, and turned to the woman.

"Couldn't give us a second could you babe?" he said, stroking her arm.

The woman got up without a word and wrapped Jenny's dressing gown around herself before leaving the room. As she passed her, Jenny gave her the dirtiest look she could muster.

"God Mark, in _our_ bed," Jenny said before she could stop herself.

"Well I'd rather have you in it, but as I can't . . ." he replied, clearly loving seeing Jenny so hurt.

"So tell me, does your whore have a name?" Jenny asked, looking at him with disgust.

"Why?"

"Just so I know whose name to put on the police report if I find that any of my stuff is missing."

Again, Mark laughed and sat up.

"Well now let's not just focus on the fun I've been having; what about you?" he asked sarcastically.

"What about me?" Jenny asked, as she lifted her suitcase down from above the wardrobe.

"Well whose bed did you share last night?"

"That's none of your business," Jenny snapped.

"Well neither is who shares mine," Mark said, as though he had proved his point.

"It is when you do it in my house!"

"_Our_ house," he corrected her. "And it's your fault we broke up Jen."

"Yeah, you're right it is," Jenny answered, as she began to pile all the stuff she could into the suitcase. "And I can't tell you what a relief it is to know that I never have to pretend to enjoy your company again."

"No, instead you prefer to spend your time with a drunken Scot - "

"He's ten times the man you are," Jenny snapped, trying to locate as much of her stuff as possible. "And I don't just mean in personality."

"So you _did_ sleep with him last night then?" Mark asked shortly.

Jenny looked around from rooting in her wardrobe.

"Of course I did _darling_," she said, putting particular emphasis on the last word. "And now I finally know why I've been so unhappy for six years."

"So what, you're just going to go and live happily ever after with him are you?" he asked, the first trace of anger noticeable in his voice.

"Er, yeah I think I am actually," she replied, a slight smugness in her voice.

She zipped up the case, and straightened up.

"I'll be back for the rest of my stuff another day, and my lawyer will be in touch about the sale of the house," she said, placing her engagement ring on the side cabinet before turning to leave.

"Before you go shacking up with him, Jen, there's something you should know," Mark shouted after her, and in spite of herself, she turned around.

"What?"

"I've got a bit of a confession to make," he continued, leaning forward. Then he was silent, as if trying to keep the suspense going.

"Well, what is it?" Jenny said impatiently.

"I've been tampering with your contraceptive pills," he said slowly, as though savoring every word.

There was silence for a while, as Jenny tried to digest what he had just said. She couldn't take it in.

"What?" she whispered in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was my mothers idea," he said proudly, lounging back. "I told her that you'd said no to having children, and she suggested it. Said you'd be thrilled when it actually happened."

"You wouldn't," Jenny said numbly, shaking her head. "No one would be that sick!"

"Yeah, I've been doing it for months now," he admitted smugly. "If you're not pregnant by now, I'd be very surprised."

"You're lying!" Jenny shouted, backing up against the wall. This wasn't happening.

"No I'm afraid not," he soothed, standing up and putting his robe on. He placed his arm on the wall next to her and leaned in. "So darling, my lawyer might be in touch over custody arrangements."

Jenny looked up at him, hate bubbling through her.

"How could you be so evil?" she whispered to him.

"It's a gift," he smirked.

Jenny shoved him away, picked up her suitcase and stormed off.

"Let's see how interested your Scotsman is in you when finds out he's got to raise someone else's kid!" he shouted after her.

But Jenny didn't look around; she just needed to get out of the house - away from _him_. She threw the case in the passengers seat of her car and sped off, eager to put as much distance between herself and Mark as possible. He was lying . . . she wasn't pregnant; she didn't feel any differently! Surely she would feel nauseous or even tired? But nothing! It wasn't true . . . _it wasn't _. . .

********

"Hi, how did it go?" Cutter asked eagerly as he let her in.

"He . . . er . . . he wasn't in," Jenny lied, as she struggled with her suitcase.

Cutter immediately took it off her and took it upstairs for her. When he returned, Jenny had sunken into the sofa with her head in her hands. She couldn't stop thinking about what Mark had said to her.

"Are you okay?" asked Cutter, obviously sensing that something was wrong.

But Jenny was spared answering as Cutter's mobile began buzzing. It was Conner, informing him of another anomaly that had appeared.

"Would you mind going ahead so I could get changed first?" Jenny asked him.

He agreed, giving her a kiss before he left. Jenny waited until she heard his car driving off before hurrying upstairs, and pulling out the pregnancy test from her suitcase. It wasn't the first time she had taken one so she knew the procedure. Her heart thudded and her breath came in short sharp gasps as she sat on the toilet seat and held the stick in front of her . . . waiting . . . waiting. After about two minutes to her count, she looked down and dropped the stick with a cry -

Positive.

"No, no, no, no!" Jenny cried to herself, sliding off the toilet onto the hard, cold floor. "This isn't happening . . ."

She leaned against the wall and sobbed, until she physically couldn't produce any more tears. Her head swirled so much that she couldn't stand.

What on earth was she going to do?!

********


	12. The confession

Chapter 12

Jenny's mobile buzzed loudly in her bag that was next to her on the floor, making her start. She fished it out, took a deep breath to steady her voice and flipped it open.

"Nick?"

"Hi, where are you?" he asked, her voice making her heart ache. "I thought you'd be here by now?"

"I'm sorry, I got sidetracked," she replied, barely able to stop her voice from cracking. "I'll come now."

"No, it's okay it's disappeared now," he stated, sounding relieved. "And nothing came through. I'll be back soon."

"Okay," Jenny breathed. "I'll see you then."

"Right," said Cutter, hesitating slightly. "Are you okay? You sound upset?"

"I'm fine," Jenny lied. "Bye."

"Bye."

Jenny closed her phone with a snap and leaned back against the wall again. She knew exactly what she had to do, and she had to do it now. The problem was that she couldn't . . . she didn't want to . . .

She sighed heavily and brushed the tears from under her eyes impatiently. With a tremendous effort, she heaved herself up from the floor and made her way to the bedroom.

********

Jenny sat in the living room on the sofa waiting for Cutter to come back. It was the wait that made it unbearable; she had time to persuade herself out of it when she had just managed to convince herself it was the right thing to do. After what seemed like an age, she heard his car pull up outside. She stood up as he let himself in the front door, her heart somewhere in her throat. Just do it . . ._ just do it _. . .

"Hi," he smiled as he walked in, walking straight up to her and pulling her in for a kiss.

She froze, not knowing whether to kiss back and savor the moment; after all, it might be the last time he kissed her. Before she could make up her mind, however, he pulled away and looked at her.

"Right, I know something is wrong," he said firmly. "Just tell - " he continued before stopping abruptly, his gaze focused on something on the floor. "Why is your suitcase down here?"

"Nick, please sit down," she breathed, closing her eyes with the pain that every word cost her.

"No, I'm fine here," he said quickly. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No, of course not," she insisted truthfully. "Please . . . just sit down and let me explain."

Reluctantly it seemed, he took a seat, looking up at her with so much worry in his face. Jenny took a deep breath before speaking.

"Now I need to tell you something, and I want you to let me finish before speaking," she said slowly, watching his expression go from worried to down right terrified.

"Jenny, you're scaring me now!" he exclaimed, his eyes searching her face desperately. "Please, just tell me - "

"I'm pregnant," she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Cutter's expression froze, his mouth open and his eyes popping slightly. If Jenny hadn't been so scared of his reaction, she would have found his face rather amusing. She gave him a few seconds before attempting to carry on, but he interrupted.

"And, is it . . .?" he asked in a hollow voice. Jenny knew exactly what he meant.

"Yes, it's Mark's," she said quietly, unable to meet his eye.

Cutter stood up so fast that he actually gave her a fright. He walked over to the fire surround and rested his arm on it, turning away from her.

"I just . . . I can't get my head around this," he stuttered. Then he swung around to face her, anger evident in his face.

"Did you know about this yesterday?" he whispered.

"No, I swear!" exclaimed Jenny. This is what she'd been afraid of.

"Well I'm finding a little hard to believe you just found out today!" he snarled, turning away from her again.

"I'm sorry, I've told this all backwards," she said more to herself than to Cutter, her hands on her head.

He turned back to look at her, and remained silent as though prompting her to carry on. She took another deep breath before continuing.

"I lied before when I said the Mark wasn't in when I went round," she said quickly, trying to get everything out in the open as fast as possible. "He . . . well, he was in bed with another woman actually, but that's beside the point . . . anyway, while I was packing my things, he told me that he'd been tampering with my contraceptive pills for months - "

"He WHAT?!" Cutter bellowed, his face bright red with anger.

"Yes, I know that was my reaction," she breathed, unable to stop herself crying again, even though she'd promised herself she wouldn't. "And well . . . I didn't believe him at first, so I did a test when you left and . . . well . . ."

She couldn't continue. She sunk back into the sofa wishing that it would just open up into a gigantic pit and swallow her whole. Cutter hesitated for a minute, and sat beside her. He put his arm around her gently and pulled her into him. The next thing she knew, she was crying into his top.

"I – I'm so so- sorry," she gasped in between sobs.

"Sssh," he said quietly, his face still stony. "It's not your fault . . ."

They stayed in this manner for a long time. When Jenny had finally calmed herself, she stood up and wiped the mascara from under her eyes, hating herself for what she had to do next.

"I've booked myself in to a hotel for a few days until I can find an apartment to rent," she continued, surprised at how steady her voice was.

"Jenny, you don't have to do that - " Cutter began, standing up.

"Yes I do Nick," she said quietly. "I can't stay here; not now . . ."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm having another man's baby," she replied in disbelief.

She noticed hurt flash across Cutter's eyes at her harsh and rather abrupt words, so when she next spoke, she ensured it was with a much gentler tone.

"Look . . ." she began, "I can't expect you to raise a child that's not yours just for me."

"But I would do it, no questions - "

"I know you would Nick," she whispered, feeling tears prick up in her eyes again. She reached out and placed her hand on the side of his face, to which he sighed and leaned into. "That's why I love you. But it's just not possible anymore. You'd end up resenting me forever."

"I wouldn't - "

"Yes you would," she replied, turning away from him to hide her newly fallen tears. "You may not think so now, but I know you would in the end."

"So that's it then?" Cutter said in disbelief. "We're just over?"

Jenny turned back to face him; she was actually disgusted in herself . . . but she had to say it. She had to make herself clear.

"Yes," she whispered simply.

Cutter strode over to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Jenny, please, _please_ don't do this," he begged, a tear cascading down his cheeks.

She looked up into his beautiful blue eyes that where full of despair; full of longing.

"I have too."

She pulled away from his grip, and picked up her suitcase. She walked off, not looking back because if she did, she knew she wouldn't be able to leave. She got in her car and drove away quickly until she rounded the nearest corner, where she had to stop. Each breath she took felt like a needle stabbing into her; she felt her heart trying to pull her back to Cutter. But she couldn't; it was done now. With a deep shaky breath, she started up the car again.

********

Cutter stood in his living room completely numb as he heard her car pull away. He couldn't feel anything; just a big gapping hole in his stomach. Then, without even noticing that he'd made up his mind about it, he stormed to his car and drove off rather manically. About fifteen minutes later, he pulled up outside Jenny's house, and almost sprinted to the door, knocking incessantly.

A minute later, Mark opened the door looking livid.

"What the hell - " he began, but Cutter punched him square in the face.

Mark fell backwards into his hall, swearing loudly. Cutter turned away, shaking his hand; his knuckles were bleeding.

"So she is pregnant then?" Mark shouted after him, the smugness evident in his voice despite his face being cut open. "Well aren't you going to congratulate me?"

Cutter through him a look of disgust before getting back in his car and speeding off; his vision compromised due to the tears in his eyes.

********


	13. Lets get one thing straight

Chapter 13

Jenny sat in her rather fancy hotel room, thinking how odd everything was. She had watched a lot of television shows and movies were the main characters lives unraveled in a matter of days, but she thought that it had always been rather fetched; obviously the writers used a bit of artistic licence. Now, however, she could see how it was plausible. Twenty-four hours ago, she had a fiancee, a house - a life. Then twelve hours ago, she had been in bed with Nick Cutter; the man she loved - the one she actually saw a future with. Now, she was alone in a hotel room and looking at a life ahead of her of being a single mother. And she didn't even like kids! She curled up on a chair with a sigh, feeling as though she'd aged about twenty years in a matter of days.

Then, her phone started ringing.

Without even thinking to look at the number, she flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Jen, it's Mark . . . don't hang up!" he said quickly, as though he had read her mind.

"I have nothing to say to you," Jenny said coldly.

"We need to talk about the baby," he said, making her heart stop.

"How did you - ?"

"Your boyfriend came round and gave me a smack," he said, in a rather amused voice. "I must say, Jen, he's not very polite . . ."

"Nick hit you?" Jenny asked, shocked.

"Yeah, he's got a good right hook on him too; my face is swollen up like a grapefruit," he replied, still sounding weirdly happy about it. "So can I see you?"

"No," Jenny replied immediately; she had no desire to see the man that had ruined everything.

"Jen, you know we need to talk eventually; we might as well do it now?"

Jenny considered this . . . maybe they did have some things to discuss.

"Okay, I'm in the Royal Hotel, room thirty-two," she answered.

"Why are you at a hotel?"

"Do you want to come or not?" she snapped.

"Yeah, I do . . . I really do! I'll see you soon."

Jenny hung up, trying to calm the boiling hate that surged through her body at the sound of his voice. _Vile man_.

She paced impatiently waiting for him to arrive; what on earth was taking him so long? She was only about a mile away . . .

There was a knock; a rather enthusiastic knock.

She opened it, and sure enough the hot hatred shot back through her at the sight of his smug, rather swollen face. He had an enormous bunch of flowers in his hands.

"Darling - "

Jenny slapped him hard across the cheek, unable to control herself.

"God, Jen," he gasped, clutching his face. "As if your man didn't do enough damage - "

"Oh no, that one was just for me," Jenny spat at him, before walking off into the room.

Mark followed, still holding out the bunch of flowers.

"I got you these . . ." he mumbled.

Jenny took them off him and threw them in the bin.

"Hey, they cost me forty quid!" he exclaimed.

"So bill me!" Jenny snapped. "Now what do you want?"

"To talk about the baby," he smiled. "_Our_ baby . . ."

Jenny laughed . . . this was unbelievable! How the hell did he expect her to speak in a civil tongue to him when he ruined her life?

"Now I know your upset with me . . ." he continued. "But I know that when the baby comes, you'll be glad I did it."

"Glad?" Jenny repeated in disbelief. "Glad? I've lost the man I love because of your evil little plan!"

"If he really loved you back, he would have took the baby on," Mark pointed out smugly.

"He did!" she burst out angrily. "He said he would, but . . . "

"But?"

"But I will not make anyone else pay for my mistake!" she snapped. "I turned him down."

"And that's what you call love?" he sniggered.

"Actually, it is. Not that you'd know . . . the only ever loved yourself - "

"You know that's not true," Mark insisted. "You know I love you!"

"If you really loved me, you wouldn't have done this to me!"

"In my defense - " he began.

"You have a defense for what you did?" Jenny exclaimed in complete incredulity.

"No; what I did was awful . . . I admit that," he explained, pacing slightly. "But it's not like I knew you were planning to run off with another man is it? I pictured you finding out, us pushing through the wedding before you started to show, and bing bang - a family."

"So this is all my fault!"

"I didn't say that did I?" he said through gritted teeth. "I just want you to understand that when I did what I did, I didn't think that it'd end up like this!"

Jenny couldn't think of anything to say back to that, so she remained silent. After a while, Mark spoke again.

"So, can we talk about our baby?" he said quietly.

"Who says I'm keeping it?" she spat back untruthfully, before turning away from him.

"You're not getting rid of it!" he shouted, sounding angry for the first time.

"Is that right?" Jenny replied in a dangerous whisper, looking back at him.

"Yeah it is!" he yelled. "You wouldn't do that! I know you!"

"Mark, lets get one thing straight," she said calmly, walking back up to him. "You don't know me at all; you never have."

"I still know that you wouldn't do something like that!"

"No," she conceded. "I wouldn't. But lets get another thing straight . . . the baby isn't yours."

"What?" he stuttered, after a long pause.

"Oh biologically it is of course," she said casually. "But it's not really yours. It's all mine. You will have no contact with it; no access no nothing."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, that's how it's going to work."

There was a suffocating silence were they both just stared at one another.

"My lawyers - " he began, but Jenny was ready for that one.

"Oh, would you like me to tell the Courts that you tampered with my medication?" she cut in, unable to keep the smugness out of her voice. "I'm sure that's an arrestable offence . . ."

"You can't prove it," Mark answered, sounding unsure.

"Really?" said Jenny sarcastically.

She walked over to her bag and pulled out the tampered pills that remained in the packaging.

"Even if I got these examined?" she said, holding them up.

Mark's face turned bright red, and his lips pursed in his fury. He looked at her for a second like he didn't know her at all, before turning and walking towards the door.

"I'll be down tomorrow for the rest of my things," Jenny shouted after him.

He stopped and turned around to face her.

"Go to hell," he whispered.

"I'm already there," she stated. Then she raised her hand and waved. "Bye now."

********


	14. Don't tell

Chapter 14

For the rest of the weekend, Cutter was constantly staring at Jenny's number on his phone, and then snapping it shut before pressing dial. She obviously needed space, and he should respect that. But the though of her sitting in a hotel room feeling completely alone made his heart ache. Still; she knew his number . . . she knew where he lived. If she wanted him, she would get in touch.

The first time he saw her again was on Monday morning at the ARC. He was already there when she arrived; he saw her through the glass windows in his office. As soon as he saw her, he felt himself pining . . . why is it that the thing he wanted most in the world was the one thing he couldn't have? She looked so beautiful as well - she was wearing a tight black blazer and skirt coupled with heels. But there was something different about her. She was wearing little make up so that her face looked wonderfully fresh, and her hair was down and straight; flowing over her shoulders. He wondered vaguely how she was going to play it . . . was she going to ignore him, act normally, or confront him? Knowing Jenny Lewis like he did, he was sure she would confront it head on, and sure enough, she knocked on his door a few minutes later.

"Can I come in?" she asked softly, poking her head round the door.

"Of - of course," Cutter stammered, indicating the seat in front of him.

She smiled slightly, and took a seat in front of him, perching on it rather awkwardly.

"How are you?" Cutter asked immediately, unable to stop himself asking the question he was desperate to know.

"I'm okay," she nodded. "And you?"

Cutter nodded back, but was unable to fully answer her question truthfully. She seemed to know why he remained silent, and didn't push him on in. Instead she continued;

"I just though I'd come and talk to you," she said, shifting rather uncomfortably, "to make sure things weren't . . . awkward between us."

"Right?" Cutter prompted.

"And . . . well I was wondering if we could just go back to the way things used to be?"

Cutter actually smiled when he though back to how it used to be with them; coldness, abruptness, sarcastic comments and a suffocating sexual tension. He really didn't fancy going back to that again. Jenny seemed to be thinking along the same lines as him as she corrected herself;

"Well, not exactly how they used to be," she smiled. "But . . . you know . . . maybe we could be friends?"

"Is that what you want?" he asked quietly, his heart sinking; he had half hoped that she had come in here to say that she had reconsidered.

"Yes," she answered, not quite meeting his eye.

"Well then that's how it'll be," he continued, attempting a smile.

She returned his smile, and made to leave, but he stopped her.

"Jenny? As your friend, may I ask where you're staying?"

She sat back down, and met his glance again.

"I'm still at the hotel," she answered. "But if I can sneak off today for an hour or two, I've got a viewing at an apartment not far from here so . . . fingers crossed."

"Yeah," Cutter nodded, trying to keep his tone neutral. "And Mark . . .?"

"There is no Mark," she answered quietly. "I've made things clear that I want him to have nothing to do with me or the baby."

"Right," Cutter nodded again, wishing that he could come up with something better to say.

After a few seconds silence, Jenny stood up again.

"Well, I better . . ."

"Yeah, I'll see you later," Cutter said quickly.

"Right," Jenny nodded, walking over to the door.

But before she reached it, she turned back around.

"Cutter?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you do something for me?" she asked softly.

"Anything," he said, before realizing it sounded a bit too . . . mushy.

"Erm . . ." she continued, looking rather nervous. "Could you maybe not mention the baby to anyone . . . not just yet?"

"Why?" Cutter asked immediately.

"Because they'd treat me differently," she explained. "Lester would stop me from going out in the field, and I'd rather not tell them until it's absolutely necessary."

"Well maybe Lester would have a point," Cutter argued back as gently as possible. "It's too dangerous for a preg - well someone in your condition."

"Cutter, I'm not dying," she snapped.

"I know, but . . ."

"Nick, please just do this one thing for me," she said, her eyes pleading.

He sighed, and nodded in agreement.

"Thanks," she smiled, before turning and leaving.

********

**I think we need a bit more action in this story so here goes . . .**

**Thank you so much too my reviewers! You keep my fingers typing away :-D x x x**


	15. Tick tock

**This chapter is not for the faint hearted . . . you have been warned!**

Chapter 15

Jenny managed to rent the apartment, much to her delight; it was a rather fabulous place and it was two bedrooms so that she would have a room to use as the nursery. Usually it was the custom not to plan for the baby so early in the pregnancy, as it was meant to be bad luck; but in this case, it couldn't be helped. The reason for this was as soon as Mark found out her new address, he began bombarding her with orders of baby things like a massive cot (that came with men to put it up for her), a Moses basket, a bath, about a million outfits for both a boy and a girl, and more toys than she could count. At first, she sent them back as they arrived one-by-one, determined not to have anything that Mark had bought in the apartment. However, everything she sent back was returned to her after a few days, and it became so tiring that she gave up and allowed the deliveries to continue. Walking in the nursery had become somewhat of a delight to Jenny; she hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was actually starting to get excited about the baby. Of course, she was still devastated about things not working out with Cutter, but every time she thought about it, she tried to put it to the back of her mind. It was not like he'd want to be saddled with a baby anyway. And she had more important things to think about.

It had been a month since she had found out, and she still hadn't worked up the bottle to tell any of the rest of the team. She'd have to do it soon though - she could have sworn that she was starting to show . . .

But when she heard the news that Lester had in store for them the next day, she was glad she had kept her mouth shut. As soon as they had arrived in the ARC, they were all immediately summoned to Lester's office.

"We think we've found Helen," he announced in his usual monotone voice as though he was informing them that the weather was nice today.

Jenny exchanged a surprised glance with Cutter, who looked back at her with worry. It was clear why; Jenny hadn't exactly came away better off on her last encounter with Helen.

"Where?" Stephen asked quickly.

"Well, we've picked up some unusual anomaly activity in an old warehouse about three miles away," Lester explained. "It's as if someone is making them appear. They come one by one, moving slightly around the warehouse in turn."

"That does sound odd," Conner said slowly. "But why do you think Helen's involved? It could be a . . . you know - a natural occurrence?"

"Perhaps," Lester nodded. "But it still requires investigation. And I want all of you to go; we need all the help we can get if Helen is there. Of course, you will have military escorts."

He glanced at Cutter briefly, as though thinking that he would object to soldiers being sent to bring his ex-wife in, but as Jenny expected, Cutter said nothing about it. He merely looked at the floor with a determined gaze. When Lester dismissed them all, Cutter actually took Jenny by the arm and led her away from the others; much to her surprise.

"Cutter, what - "

"You're not coming," he whispered urgently, glancing over at the others as they made their way down the ramp.

"Why not?" she asked, completely bemused.

"You know exactly why!" he snapped.

"Cutter, I've got to go," Jenny whispered back. "Lester said he wants us all there."

"Only because he doesn't know!"

"And what, if I refuse to stay here you're going to tell on me?" Jenny sneered, unable to stop herself. For goddess sake, she wasn't an invalid!

"Exactly," Cutter insisted, still gripping her arm tight.

Jenny wrenched away from him fuming. How dare he blackmail her like this!

"You wouldn't!" she snapped.

"There's not much I wouldn't do to keep you safe."

"Even break my confidence?" she asked, unable to stop herself portraying the hurt in her voice.

"Hey, are you guys coming or what?" Abby shouted over to them impatiently.

"Yeah just a second," Jenny answered loudly, before looking back at Cutter, and speaking to him in a low voice. "Please Nick; it's not going to be like last time. I'm more appropriately dressed for one. And I'll have a gun. _And_ be surrounded by soldiers! Please, just let it go."

Cutter hesitated for a second, a look of panic on his face.

"Okay," he said finally, and somewhat reluctantly. "But you stick to me like glue, do you understand?"

Jenny nodded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes with difficulty. He was so overprotective!

They joined the rest of the team and set off towards the warehouse. For some reason, Jenny felt nervous; Helen was an intelligent woman, and it seemed rather out of character to leave such a blatant sign for them to follow. Cutter seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as he fidgeted like a child next to her in the car. He looked afraid, and anything that made Cutter afraid was definitely something worth being afraid of.

********

Cutter could almost feel the blood pounding in his ear as they got out of the car as quietly as possible; something wasn't right . . .

He climbed the twenty or so steps in front of the building and reached the door before any of the others did, leaning against the wall beside it. Jenny was close behind him. He wished she wasn't here - if anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. Glancing at her as they waited for the others to catch up, he noticed how composed she looked. Her breathing may have been slightly faster than normal and her face a little paler, but she held her gun with incredibly steady hands. One positive thing was that she was actually dressed for the job this time; she had ditched her heels for more practical flat boots and black jeans. That was something at least. He locked his gaze with hers.

"I go in first," he whispered to her, to which she nodded.

The rest of the team fell into place behind them except the three soldiers who crept silently over to the door. They fell into their stance, guns pointed directly towards the entrance. Cutter looked over at Stephen and signaled for him to help him open the door. They both placed their hand on the massive rusty handle.

"One . . . two . . . three," Cutter whispered, and they both pulled with all their might.

The door opened with a creak and immediately, the soldiers darted in front of them, torches and guns pointing wildly around. The rest of them followed suit, Cutter looking around before entering, making sure that Jenny was still next to him.

********

The warehouse smelled foul; as though it was a storage facility for manure, or else where all the sewage in the neighborhood passed through. Jenny wrinkled her nose and suppressed the urge to put her hands over her nose and mouth. It was almost pitch black inside, the only light coming from the tiny torches they held. The slow repetitive sound of dripping could be heard from high above them. They all moved forward in a line formation, searching the ground and the walls for a clue as to Helen's whereabouts. Cutter was so close to Jenny that she could feel the quickening of his breath on her cheek as they walked in deeper. All of a sudden, the lights flickered on so bright that Jenny felt as though her corneas had been burnt off. Everyone's hands darted instinctively in front of their eyes to shield them from the light, and held their guns tighter -

But it turned out to just be Conner who had found the light switch, and now looked like a deer in headlights.

"Sorry guys," he whispered, in a rather high pitched voice.

"God, you gave us a flipping heart attack," Stephen snarled quietly, shoving him in the back.

Jenny privately agreed; her heart rate still hadn't returned to normal.

"Jesus Conner!" Abby whispered urgently, her hand on her chest.

"Guys, sssh!" Cutter hissed. "Can you hear that?"

Everyone was silent. Then they heard it . . . a harsh loud ticking noise coming from over by the corner. The soldiers hurried over to it, as did Cutter and Jenny. Cutter took one look at it, and bellowed to everyone;

"THE LIGHT SWITCH TRIGGERED A BOMB! GET OUT!"

Without hesitation, Stephen grabbed Abby and pulled her away towards the exit.

"Go and try and evacuate anyone near this place!" Cutter barked at the soldiers. "And Conner, I need you here! For all we know it could blow up half of London!"

Conner, who had been rushing off after Stephen and Abby stopped dead and, looking like it was the last thing on earth he wanted to do, he hurried back towards the bomb and lent over it to examining it closer.

Cutter looked at Jenny wildly, as though she was surprised she was still next to him.

"What are you waiting for; GO!" he shouted, pushing her.

"No - not without you!" she insisted, refusing to be moved.

Cutter grabbed her wrists.

"Jenny your pregnant now; think of the baby!" he shouted, his face full of fear.

For a split second, Jenny locked eyes with him and saw the pleading in them. She knew he was right; she had to go . . . but she couldn't. She couldn't leave him! As if he read her mind, Cutter threw her from him roughly, causing her to stagger back several feet.

"GO!"

Jenny turned and sprinted towards the exit, her heart hammering and tears streaming down her face. Her heart seemed to be breaking thinking about the fact that she'd just left him behind. But she had too . . .

Then she heard Conner screaming from way behind her.

"Cutter, it's going to blow!"

Jenny turned to see both men sprinting towards her.

"JENNY DON'T STOP!" Cutter yelled. "KEEP RUNNING!"

She obeyed immediately, comforted by the fact he wasn't far behind her . . . she reached the exit . . . then, all of a sudden, she felt herself thrown in the air by a tremendous force behind her. She was falling . . . falling . . . then nothing.

********

Cutter regained consciousness slowly and found himself lying across the last five steps outside the now destroyed warehouse. Every bone in his body ached, and his vision swam before him; he could hear shouts and bangs around him, but they seemed muffled as though his hearing was damaged. He looked up trying to focus on his surroundings . . . then he saw Jenny's motionless figure lying on her front a few feet from the bottom stair. His heart seemed to stop beating . . . she couldn't be dead . . . _she couldn't!_

He scrambled down the remaining steps towards her, unsure of whether his legs worked or not.

"Jenny!" he shouted as he shook her to revive her, panicked beyond belief. "JENNY!"

He saw her head move slightly as she struggled to lift it; he could have sang with relief. She looked up at him; her eyes looked dazed and she had a huge cut on her forehead that was bleeding freely. Her face was also blackened with dirt.

"Nick?" she said faintly, as she sat up with what looked like a huge effort.

"Are you okay?" he asked putting his hand on the side of her face, ignoring his ringing ears.

"I think so . . ." she whispered, shaking all over.

"And the baby?" Cutter asked.

Jenny's eyes widened with panic at his words and she put her hands on her stomach.

"Oh God, I don't know!" she shrieked.

"It's okay," Cutter soothed, pulling her face up to his. "Jenny - look at me - it's going to be okay; everything is fine."

She nodded slightly, although she still looked worried.

"Here, let me help you up," he added, after finally manage to stagger to his feet himself.

But before he could pull her up, he heard an earth-shattering scream behind him. He looked round and saw Abby cradling Conner in her arms.

"Conner, wake up!" she screamed, shaking his lifeless face.

Cutter's gaze found Jenny's again, whose eyes looked panicked.

"Cutter, forget about me I'm fine," she insisted, her voice still faint. "Go and see to Conner!"

So Cutter dropped her hands and sprinted over to where Abby and Cutter lay. His trembling fingers found his exposed neck, feeling for a pulse . . .

"He's alive," he sighed to Abby, who looked as relieved as he felt.

He sat back and looked around at Jenny again; he saw her stagger to her feet . . . but something wasn't right . . . as soon as she straightened up, she doubled over again clutching her stomach, her face contorted in pain. Cutter's blood ran cold.

"JENNY!" he cried, sprinting over to her.

She looked around and made to walk towards him, but she collapsed to her knees after a few steps.

"Shit!" Cutter muttered, catching her around the waist just in time.

Her breathing was erratic as she reached down with her hand. When she held it back up to her face, Cutter felt as though the wind been knocked out of his chest. _Blood_.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Jenny sobbed, her hands shaking violently.

"WHERE IS THE AMBULANCE?" Cutter shouted to anyone who could hear, as he cradled Jenny in his arms. Somebody must have called one by now . . .

********


	16. What now?

Chapter 16

Cutter followed Jenny into her apartment; the silence between them still as dense as it had been since he had picked her up from the hospital. She looked distraught . . . broken . . .

She flung her keys on the side table without a word and looked around the room as though it was unfamiliar to her. Cutter looked around as well in polite admiration; he had never been here before, and he had to say; it was impressive.

"This is a beautiful apartment," he said to her quietly in an attempt to get her talking.

She merely smiled faintly, before tuning away from him.

"Jenny?" he whispered, placing his hand gently on her shoulder.

But underneath his fingers, he felt her shudder at his touch and withdraw away from it. He quickly took his hand away. She lowered her head slightly, and rub her hand on her face. Then suddenly, she straightened up, looking alarmed.

"What?" asked Cutter quickly. "What's wrong?"

She didn't answer him, but marched off down the hall towards a room at the far side. He followed her immediately, unwilling to leave her alone if it could be avoided. He walked in the room after her; Jenny frozen in the centre. Then he saw why . . . it was obviously the nursery. It was filled with SOmuch stuff, that Cutter couldn't help but ask;

"Where did this all come from?"

Jenny walked over to the cot and placed her hands on the bar, leaning against it and breathing deeply as though to stop herself from crying. When she answered, her voice was unsteady.

"Mark," she stated in a hollow voice. "He kept sending me things over. I sent them back at first, but they just kept coming so just stored them in here . . ."

It was obvious to Cutter that she had not just 'stored them in here'; there was a clear sense of organisation that surpassed even Jenny's anal standards. He noticed how the teddy bears were arranged in size order on the shelf, and how the tiny little outfits were folded neatly in a pile on the desk. Clearly, a lot of love and warmth had gone into the room.

"Jenny?" he repeated quietly. She didn't respond, so he continued. "I am so sorry."

She let out an empty laugh, and turned around to face him; her eyes looking cold and distant instead of filled with their usual warmth.

"Really?" she asked sarcastically.

There was a long silence as Cutter just stared back at her; he was unsure of what she was getting at but he was certain it wasn't good.

"See, it seems to me like you've gotten everything you wanted," she continued in the same ice cold tone.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his heart beating fast in his chest; he knew exactly what she meant, but she was so far off the mark.

"Well before I found out I was pregnant, it was your bed I was in," she stated in a rather spiteful tone that was so unlike Jenny. "But then the baby ruined everything. I bet you're glad it happened - "

"You know that's not true!" Cutter yelled before he could stop himself.

"Do I?"

"Well if you know me at all, you would," he said in a rather shaky voice.

"But that's the thing Cutter; I don't know you at all!" she spat approaching him slightly. "All I really know about you is that you have an ex-wife who killed my baby - "

"And now we get to it," Cutter shouted, raising his arms up in frustration. "You blame me don't you?"

She turned away from him to face the cot again, breathing hard.

"Go on; just admit it!"

She remained silent, refusing to look at him, or indeed in his direction at all. Cutter could feel his insides clenching; so this is what it felt like to have you're heart ripped out?

"I'll take that as a yes," he whispered numbly.

Again, she remained silent and didn't turn around. Cutter wanted to argue his case more; say that he had offered to take the baby on in the first place to be with her . . . he had wanted her to remain behind in the ARC instead of coming to the warehouse . . . he had yelled at her to run away from the bomb earlier and she wouldn't! But he didn't mention any of this; he knew that each of these points sounded like he was pointing the blame at her instead. And that was something he really didn't want. So he turned and walked away in silence; out of her apartment, and down the stairs, all the while wondering if she'll ever be able to speak to him again.

********

Jenny heard her front door slam shut and knew that Cutter had left. She turned around and fell to the floor; her back against the cot. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them and sobbed, rocking backwards and forwards slightly. The truth was she didn't blame Cutter at all . . . she blamed herself. He had warned her not to go with them; he had tried to make her run way before the bomb went off . . . and she had refused both times. It was her recklessness that had caused this; and she'd have to live with it.

The longer she sat there and thought, the more disgusted in herself she felt. Cutter had been amazing throughout this whole thing, and she had just treated him like he meant nothing to her. No worse; she had treated him like she hated him. When that couldn't be further from the truth. She had an urge to go and see him, or even phone him, but she didn't; she had said some unforgivable things . . . he'd probably never speak to her again. Every time Jenny closed her eyes, the image of his face flashed before her . . . the hurt look in his eye when she had said all those horrible things to him. God, how on earth was she going to work along side him now?

********

Jenny had a week off work, and hadn't had any contact with anyone since she had come back from the hospital and the whole argument with Cutter. Her phone had buzzed non-stop however, with calls from Abby, Conner, Stephen, Lester, Mark and her mother. The only person who hadn't rang, however, was Nick. Ironically, his was probably the only call she'd answer . . .

About two days before she was due back at the ARC, Jenny found herself lying in her bed, which was not unusual. She barely slept, of course, but she found it incredibly hard to summon the energy to get up and do anything even vaguely energetic. She mostly just lay there turning everything over in her head, which made her feel worse by the day. Who said that time was the best healer?

On that particular day, Jenny's steam rolling thoughts were stopped by her buzzer. She looked up and then lay back down; it wasn't the first time in a few days that she had ignored it and she had no intention of seeing anyone at all. However, then her phone bleeped up with a message. Reluctantly, she reached over and read it:

_Jenny, I'm outside ur door plz let me in we need to talk. Conner x_

What did he mean 'we need to talk'!? Had something happened to someone? She leapt out of bed and raced over to the intercom to buzz him in. She paced nervously, waiting for him to come up . . . then he knocked at the door. She wrenched it open immediately and saw him standing there with rather bloodshot eyes.

"Conner, what is it? What's happened?" she asked quickly, standing aside to let him in and closing the door with a snap.

He stared at her, looking rather confused.

"W-what do you mean?" he asked quietly.

"Has something happened to Cutter? . . . or Abby?" she demanded, panicked.

"No, their fine why?"

"You . . . you said we needed to talk?" Jenny said quietly, but inwardly sighing with relief upon hearing that Cutter and Abby were both safe. "I thought that - "

"Oh, no nothing's wrong, I just needed to see you," he said, looking rather nervous. "I just . . . you know . . . thought that . . ."

Jenny sighed slightly as he babbled on in front of her; this was exactly what she didn't want.

"What do you want Conner?" she asked rather abruptly, stopping his rambling immediately.

He looked at her for a second in silence, his eyes searching hers.

"You look awful," he whispered running his hand over his hair.

"Thanks," Jenny said in a cold tone.

"No, I didn't mean . . ."

"Conner, it's okay; I know what you meant," she sighed.

After all, he had never seen her in anything more casual than a skirt and blouse. Now however, she was wearing one of her large university hoodies with sweat pants, and her hair was scraped back into a messy bun. That, coupled with the fact that she hadn't eaten or slept in days must mean that she looked a mess.

Conner seemed to dither in front of her, seemingly unable to say what he wanted to. Then, to Jenny's complete surprise, after a slight pause and a deep breath he blurted out;

"I know that you blame me! And you have every right to . . ."

"Conner - " Jenny interrupted, not knowing what he was blabbering about.

"No, please Jenny let me finish!" he begged. "Abby told me not to come, but I had to! It was my fault; it was all my fault, and I can't bear it anymore!"

"What are you - ?"

"I turned on the light switch!" he cried, his eyes swimming with tears. "I triggered the bomb, and I'll never forgive myself for it! I'm so so sorry!"

He was reaching a slightly hysterical point now, so Jenny reached out and pulled him into a hug to calm him. He stopped talking immediately, and after a few seconds, he hugged her back and began to sob into her hair.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated again, his voice muffled in her hair.

"Listen," she said, disengaging herself from him gently. She took his face in her hands. "Conner, it wasn't your fault okay? I don't blame you in the slightest - "

"But - "

"Any one of us could have flicked that switch," she continued in a firm voice. "And if you hadn't, someone else would have. It was going to happen anyway."

"But - "

"There's no 'buts'," she interrupted again, allowing herself to give him a slight smile as she dropped her hands. "And if I here from anyone that you're blaming yourself in the slightest, I'm going to have to kill you."

He giggled nervously, shuffling his feet. Silence fell between them for a moment.

"When are you coming back to work?" he asked sheepishly.

"Monday," she replied, surprised at how warm her tone was.

"Good, because it's not the same without you," he smiled, punching her playfully on the shoulder.

She returned his smile, but remained silent. Then, before she could even understand what was happening, he had pulled her into another rib cracking hug.

"Thank you . . ." he whispered in her ear.

She didn't need to ask what he was thanking her for; he was happy that she had put his mind at rest. She only wished he could do the same for her . . .

He broke away and looked at her again, his eyes bright.

"I'll see you Monday," he said, before walking towards the door.

"Conner?" she called after him, unable to stop herself asking the question that was burning inside her. "How . . . how's Cutter?"

He turned around.

"He's . . ." he said quietly, but seemed unable to finish the sentence.

He looked at the floor as though he was a naughty pupil waiting to be dismissed from the headmaster's office.

"Right, well I'll see you in a couple of days then," she said in the most cheery voice she could muster in an attempt to gloss over her awkward question.

"Right," he nodded, beaming at her. Then he left.

Jenny watched him go with a horrible sinking feeling; from his reaction, it was clear that Cutter wasn't doing so good. But what could she do? Should she phone him? She picked up her house phone, but replaced it on the stand almost immediately. She had no idea what she would say, and knowing her she'd probably just make everything worse.

********

**This might be my last update for a while as I'm very busy over the next few days. If I find a few hours spare though, I might try and get another chapter out. Hope you're liking it so far! As always, review to let me know if you're enjoying it or not :-D**


	17. Apology NOT accepted

Chapter 17

As soon as Jenny walked in the ARC on Monday, she was greeted with a roar enthusiasm from Conner and Abby. As soon as they spotted her, they ran up and before she knew it, she was buried in a pile of tangled limps.

"It's so good to see you!" Abby squealed from somewhere around her midriff.

In spite of herself, Jenny couldn't help but smile at their warm welcome. It was actually rather nice to know she was missed by _some people_. She disengaged herself from them and looked around; she saw Stephen and Lester beaming over at her from by the Detector, but of course, Cutter was no-where to be seen.

"I am actually glad you're back," Lester simmered in his usual empty voice. "If you would have had to hear some of the cover stories that have been suggested in your absence . . . I believe that one of them involved a spastic blind monkey escaping from the zoo and reeking havoc in a garden centre . . ." he smirked, looking over at Conner, who blushed.

"I didn't hear anyone else chiming in with other plausible reasons!" he insisted hotly.

For the first time since she can remember, Jenny was actually laughing; it felt like it had been building up for ever. Then her glance flickered upwards, and with a lunge, she saw Cutter looking over at them from the balcony. Her smile faltered and her heart seemed to stop as she locked her gaze with his; he was looking at her with such coldness in his eyes that she felt as though she had been winded. God, will he ever forgive her?

The rest of them who had not noticed Cutter's arrival were still happily chatting away around her.

"At least my cover story had a bit of imagination behind it - " Conner pointed out, a red tinge still visible on his cheeks.

"The imagination of a five-year-old!" Abby laughed.

The conversations passed over Jenny without her actually taking in what they were saying; she was to busy watching Cutter walk away down the corridor. It was now or never . . .

"Excuse me guys," she said quickly, before hurrying off after him, her heart pounding erratically.

"Nick!" she shouted as she caught up with him.

He turned around slowly, his face set and stony. Silence fell between them for a few moments as she blushed slightly under his intense stare; it felt as though he was x-raying her. All of a sudden, words failed her and she could think of nothing to say. Eventually, it was him who broke the silence.

"You look well," he said in a cold tone that didn't suit him.

"I'm am," she nodded, rather more eagerly than she had intended in her relief that he had spoken.

"I'm glad," he said in the same monotone voice. "Well I better be going . . ."

He turned to walk away again, much to Jenny's horror.

"No Nick, wait!" she cried quickly. "I just wanted to say that . . . well . . . I'm sorry," she muttered, not meeting his eye.

He froze, his back still to her. Then he turned around and looked at her hard. Finally, he nodded.

"Okay," he said, although the cold tone to his voice was still present.

Obviously it was going to take more than apology to gain his forgiveness; but the trouble was that she was at a loss as to what else to do. Silence ensued again. Then Jenny felt a jolt of anger that shot though her abruptly; if he didn't want to except her apology, then that was his problem.

"Right well I'll leave you to you're work _Cutter_," she said in the iciest tone she could muster, before turning her heel and walking back down the corridor.

She could sense him still watching her, but forced herself not to look back and stared determinably ahead.

********


	18. A little trip

Chapter 18

It had been months since Jenny had returned to work, and she had settle back into life at the ARC surprisingly well. Things with Cutter were worse than ever of course - he could barely stand to be in the same room as her - but certain other parts of her life seemed to have improved considerably. She had become very close to Abby and Conner, and had began thinking of them as sort of her younger siblings; they were certainly as irritating as her own younger brother was, but extremely loveable at the same time. Stephen had also become a lot more chatty with her; she had the distinct impression that he pitied her whenever Cutter was giving her 'the cold shoulder' so-to-speak, so he seemed to attempt to make up for his friends behavior by talking incessantly to her. Jenny didn't mind at all; it was rather sweet, and some-what of a relief as apposed to Cutter's stony silence.

One day, they all got called into Lester's office which was never a good thing; it usually meant that they were in trouble, and were about to be treated to an hour long rant. They all filed in, and Jenny somehow finding herself standing next to Cutter. He seemed no happier about the arrangement that she was, and stared resolutely ahead; his jaw set. They were so close that her body brushed up against him slightly, making her heart almost burst it's banks. She glanced up at him, and could have sworn that his eyes twitched slightly in her direction, before resuming their position of staring forward.

"I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that you're going on a little trip . . ." Lester drawled at them.

Jenny exchanged a puzzled glance with Abby who was next to her, before looking back at Lester for some clarification.

"We've received a few . . . how should I put it . . . _odd_ reports about a creature sighting," he continued. "And today, a body was found with a rather large chuck out of it."

He handed a photograph to Stephen, who was closer to him. Stephen glanced down and it, and looked away immediately, a disgusted expression on his face. He passed it to Conner, who dropped the picture in horror. Abby picked it up, and looked away as Stephen had done, shuddering. She handed it to Jenny, who put her hand to her mouth to stop herself retching; the picture was one of the most gruesome things that she had ever seen - the body was nearly severed on two. She finally passed it to Cutter with trembling hands. He stared at it for a second, a sickened look flickering across his eyes.

"It's definitely an animal kill," Abby gulped.

"But what could have done something like that?" Jenny whispered, aware that she was shaking slightly; that image was going to stay with her for a long time.

"What ever it was must have had a particularly long jaw," Cutter answered to the room, not to Jenny. "Judging by the size of the . . . the wound . . ." he trailed off.

"But there's been no an anomaly alert," Conner pointed out. "And I swear the Detector's working fine!"

"Yes, but it wouldn't be the first time an anomaly has formed before we got the Detector online would it?" Stephen chimed it, obviously referring to the incident with the Saber-tooth Cat. "Maybe it's been here for months?"

"Well why has nobody seen anything then?" Jenny asked, still wrestling to get the image of the mutilated body out of her head.

"It's obviously kept a low profile until now," Stephen replied.

"Fantastic; so we've got a vicious creature sneaking around on Newquay beach that just so happens to have the stealth of a Ninja," Lester sighed, his finger and thumb on the bridge of his nose.

"Newquay?" Conner squeaked, looking up in excitement. "We're going to Newquay?!"

"Indeed," Lester sighed. "I'll leave it to you to make the arrangements Jenny?"

Jenny nodded, before leaving the room; noticing that she missed having the warmth of Cutter next to her as she walked off.

********

A few hours later, they were all packed into the government car; Cutter was driving with Conner in the passenger seat, and Jenny and Abby were in the back. Stephen had volunteered to drive up in a different car with most of the suitcases. Abby and Conner chatted away excitedly at the prospect of going to the number one party zone in the UK for students; so much so that Jenny had to remind them of why they were going.

"You know we won't have time for much partying?" she smirked, seeing their faces fall slightly.

"Not strictly true," Cutter pipped up, speaking for the first time since they began the long drive. "We'll have to ask as many people as we can about the creature sighting rumors, and the best way I can think of to do that is . . . well, go to bars and ask the locals."

Conner bobbed about with excitement.

"Maybe I can persuade you to have a bit of fun while we're there," Abby whispered to Jenny with raised eyebrows.

Although she didn't say it quietly enough, as out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cutter glance around slightly.

"I think I'm off men for the time being," Jenny muttered, flushing slightly.

"So you batting for the other side now?" Abby teased.

From the front seat, Jenny distinctly heard Cutter snigger.

"I wish," Jenny stated with a smile.

"Me too," Conner interjected, turning around.

Jenny leaned over Abby and cuffed him on the back of his head playfully, making him scowl loudly, although he was still smiling.

"Can't keep a man happy Jenny?" Cutter interjected - where the hell had that come from?

Although Jenny could have sworn that there was a hint of playfulness in his voice . . . perhaps he was trying to get things on a more civil platform.

"Oh I keep them happy," Jenny insisted, leaning forward slightly. "I keep them very happy . . ."

"Okay guys, don't get gross," Abby interrupted, looking rather embarrassed.

Jenny sat back again with smirk; unless she was very much mistaken, her and Cutter had just flirted; either that or he was questioning her ability in the bedroom. Although she didn't hear him complaining at the time . . . she looked up, and caught Cutter's eye in the mirror. He held her gaze longer than usual, and for the life of her, she couldn't break it either.

********

They pulled up outside the hotel to find Stephen waiting for them leaning against the car.

"You guys took your time," he smirked as they got out.

"Not all of us drive like maniacs," Cutter retorted, clapping him on the back.

They all pulled there bags out of the car with difficulty and carried them inside; Jenny in particular struggled as she had a substantial amount more than the rest of them.

"Hello," Jenny smiled at the woman behind the desk. "We have a reservation under Lewis?"

The woman nodded and typed away on her computer. Then suddenly, the smile on her face faltered slightly.

"I'm sorry, but it appears we don't have you on our system," she said, her forehead frowned in concentration.

"That's impossible; I phoned three hours ago!" Jenny insisted, rather annoyed - was everyone in the world incompetent?

"I wasn't working this morning, and the man who was isn't here anymore," the woman said in a weirdly cheery voice.

"Well can we book rooms now?" Jenny asked, rather aggressively.

"I'm afraid that all are rooms are booked up," she replied in a false disappointed voice. "You'll be hard pushed to find a room now; it's peek season."

"So what do us to do?" snapped Jenny, incensed by her unhelpfulness.

********

"This is ridiculous!" Jenny scowled, carrying her luggage in one hand, and a bunch of tent poles in the other.

"Well did you have a better idea?" Cutter retorted, his face hidden by the folded up tent he was carrying.

"Maybe something that didn't involve us setting up camp where we know a predator that can rip chunks out of people is on the loose!" Jenny snapped, chucking down the poles in the corner of the tiny field they had found by the beach.

The roars of party goers on the beach floated over to them so that they could hear the goings on vividly; it sounded as though there was some sort of competition going on . . . Jenny could have sworn that she heard the words 'wet t-shirt' mentioned over the microphone. They all sniggered as they set up the two tents they had purchased.

"Oh to be young again!" Cutter smirked as he threaded a pole through the material.

"Speak for yourself mate!" Stephen teased. "I can still drink an eighteen-year-old under the table."

"Well you'll both have the opportunity to tonight," Jenny interjected, handing Cutter another pole. "We'll have a quick search of the beach when it dies down a bit, and then we're off to fish for any clues that might point us in the right direction."

"Great, I'll get my part outfit out!" Conner exclaimed, trying and failing to wack a peg into the hard ground.

"What's that?" Abby asked, shoving him out the way and successfully knocking the peg down in one try.

"You know that Hawaiian shirt - "

"You are not wearing that!" Abby laughed.

"Say's who?"

"Me! It's horrendous - "

"Guys, can we just concentrate on getting these tents up?" Jenny asked, her head pounding already with the noise from the beach.

They finished setting the tents up in silence, and dragged their baggage in; Jenny and Abby were in one tent and the boys in the other. While they waited for the beach to empty out a bit more, they went up to the promenade for something to eat. When they returned, they found that there was only a few remaining stragglers, the rest of the people probably gone back to get ready for a night out. They had a quick scan of the place, but as they expected, found nothing, and the hand-held detector didn't pick up on anything either. Grumbling, they returned to the tents and got ready to go out.

It was exponentially difficult to get changed with any amount of dignity in a tent, and Jenny and Abby ended up crashing into each other as they tried to scramble into their dresses. She also got pins and needles whilst crouching to put her makeup on, and by the end of the whole ordeal, she ended up swearing to herself that she would never set foot in a tent again after this was over. She stepped out when she was satisfied that it was as good as her appearance was going to get when she only had a tiny handheld mirror to use, and stumbled immediately; her heel stuck in the mud. Someone caught her by the arm and stopped her from falling flat on her face. She glanced up and saw Cutter's face looked down at her.

"T - thank you," she said awkwardly, straightening up.

He smiled slightly and let go of her arm.

"You look . . . nice . . ." he murmured, staring at her in a way she hadn't seen him do in a long while.

She blushed and looked down at herself. She was wearing a dark blue dress that was rather tight now she thought about it; her chest certainly appear to be more . . . obvious . . . than it had seemed a few minutes ago.

"Thank you," Jenny repeated again, kicking herself that she couldn't come up with something better to say.

Cutter opened his mouth to say something but stopped abruptly as Conner and Stephen bobbed out of their tent looking excited.

"Come on Abby; lets go!" Jenny shouted, breaking her eye contact with Cutter.

********


	19. Tonight's hotspot

Chapter 19

They walked into the club that seemed to be where everyone was congregating outside of; according to Abby, this was clearly the hotspot of the night. Everyone in there must have been aged between eighteen and twenty-five.

"It's so noisy!" shouted Cutter, although he knew that no-one would be able to hear him clearly.

"Relax Grandad!" Stephen laughed down his ear, clapping him on the back.

They moved deeper into the club, and it seemed to Cutter (although he didn't know if he was paranoid of not) that every man's head in the vicinity turned towards Jenny and Abby as they walked up to the bar. Cutter and Stephen found a table, and Abby and Conner came back with a round of drinks.

"Where's Jenny?" Cutter asked before he could stop himself.

"Relax, she's over there," Abby pointed. "She's got the barman talking about the creature sighting."

Cutter followed her eye-line and spotted Jenny leaning over the bar talking to some handsome guy, who looked as though Christmas had come early. Cutter watched, his stomach tightening uncomfortably, as she leaned further over to him, flicking her hair and smiling in a way that would get information out of even the tightest lipped man. However, Cutter was rather pleased to see that when she turned away from him to return to them, the flirtatious smile she had worn fell immediately, perhaps indicating that it was all an act.

"Right," she sighed, perching onto her seat and grabbing her glass of wine. "He said that there had been a load of noises reportedly coming from a cave on the beach that is accessible when the tides out."

"What else did he say?" asked Cutter, disbelieving that the man was happy just discussing the cave.

"He asked for my number actually," she smirked, sipping her wine.

"Did you give it to him?" Cutter demanded before he could arrange his tone into a more nonchalant one.

"I certainly did," she laughed, "and my local taxi company will be getting a rather drunken phone call off him later."

Every one around the table burst out laughing, and in spite of himself, Cutter did also. He had to admit; it was a good one.

"Do girls _actually_ do that?" Conner asked in disbelief, looking rather self-conscious.

"Excuse me," a voice said from beside them.

Cutter looked around and saw a man leaning over their table, swaying slightly.

"Can I have a dance?" he slurred to Jenny, who blushed.

"Er . . ." Jenny said, looking around the table for help that didn't come.

"Come on," he smiled, holding out his hand. "I won't take no for an answer!"

Jenny glanced around at Cutter, her eyes looking at him pleadingly. He wanted to jump up and shove the man backwards and tell him to piss off; but he couldn't. She was a free agent after all. She looked back around at the man, and (reluctantly it seemed) took his hand. He pulled her up rather eagerly so that she flew into his arms.

"Oh . . . my," Cutter heard her say, as he led her off to the dance floor.

Cutter couldn't tear his eyes away from her dancing . . . the way the fabric of her dress pulled tight across her body as she moved was one of the most erotic thing he had ever seen; it was just a shame that the hands around her hips weren't his . . .

"Come on, lets dance," Abby said to Conner, before walking off.

Conner looked surprised but thrilled, and enthusiastically followed her like a love-sick puppy.

Cutter glanced back to Jenny and saw the guy spin her, but in his drunkenness, he made her collide into a bunch of people next to her. She looked around and locked eyes with Cutter, clearly trying to get him to go over and pull her away from the drunk.

"I think she wants your help there," Stephen said, obviously picking up on the same look that he himself had.

"Well she didn't have to get up and dance with him did she," Cutter replied coldly, determined that he was not going to bale her out.

"Cutter, she's apologised to you, what the hell more can she do?" Stephen said so abruptly that Cutter looked around at him.

"And what has it got to do with you?" he snapped back, an unreasonable anger bubbling up in his stomach.

"The fact that your so stubborn that you push everyone who gives a damn about you away!"

"Well when you sleep with my wife, that's bound to happen!" Cutter snarled.

"You know what, you just sit here on your high horse," Stephen scowled, standing up. "I'm going to go and be a gentleman about this."

Before Cutter could say another thing to him, he had stalked off towards Jenny. He put his hand on the man's shoulder, and said something to him, and reluctantly, the guys hands slid away from Jenny as Stephen pulled her away. The man staggered off, and Cutter watched as Jenny put her forehead on Stephen's chest in obvious gratitude. The bubbling anger he had felt before seemed to explode within him as Stephen took her waist and they started to dance. The image of them laughing together and having a good time made Cutter feel physically ill; how dare he!

Unable to bear watching any more of this, Cutter took his beer and went out onto the balcony. The view was rather stunning, as it looked out onto the beach; the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore vaguely audible over the babble of people. Cutter leaned against the railing with a sigh; one of the most breathtaking views in the UK and he had no-one to share it with . . .

"Hi," said a beautifully familiar voice from beside him.

He looked around and saw that Jenny was right next to him, leaning against the rail as he was doing.

"It's a fabulous view here isn't it?" she sighed, glancing up at him.

"I thought you were with Stephen?" he muttered, looking away from her.

"Cutter don't be ridiculous, there's nothing going on between me and Stephen!" she laughed in disbelief. "He's my friend, and he saved me from an awkward situation. It's not like you were rushing up to do it . . ."

"Don't pretend you weren't thrilled that it was Stephen who rescued you instead!" Cutter snapped. "I saw you!"

"I was relieved to be away from that lunatic!" Jenny shouted back, looking angry. "And incase you didn't notice, it was your eye I was trying to catch!"

"Didn't seem disappointed about the alternative though did you?"

"Then why am I out here with you?!" she yelled, finally losing her temper. "You know what, I give up! I wanted nothing more than to make it up with you, and I though we were on the right track, but I'm not putting up with being treated like this just because your jealous!"

She turned and stalked off.

"I'm not jealous!" he yelled after her, which was completely untrue.

"Well you could have fooled me!" was her reply, although she didn't even look around.

********

**A bit of action I hear you say . . . :-D review! **


	20. Oh dear

Chapter 20

Jenny unzipped her tent and stepped out, shivering slightly as the cold air hit her. Now she thought about it, maybe it would have been more sensible to wear a jumper and jeans instead of the pants/blouse/waistcoat combo that she had chosen. But she was still a PR person for the team after all, and her appearance must reflect that whenever possible. On a positive note, at least she had flat shoes on. As she looked around the field, she noticed that it mustn't be that long after dawn, as the sunrise had only just began to peep over the horizon. But it was necessary to start this early; they needed to investigate the cave before the Summer Breakers started to pile onto the beach again. She had already woken up a reluctant Abby, who was dressing slowly in the tent; her eyes still half closed. Now she had to wake the rest of them, despite the fact that she doubted she could see Cutter's face without wanting to smack him.

Jenny walked over to the boys tent and knocked on it as best she could considering it was made of stretchy material. There was no response, although she was certain she could hear gentle snoring coming from inside. Jenny was very reluctant to unzip the tent, rather afraid of what she'd find inside.

"Guys?" she shouted, feeling rather like their mother.

Again, there was no response. Scowling, Jenny increased the volume of her voice substantially.

"GUYS!"

Finally, sounds of life issued from the tent; someone fumbled for the zip on the other side and opened it enough to poke his sleepy head out. It was Stephen.

"Wozzamata?" he mumbled, refusing to open his eyes.

"Up please!" she said bossily, but smiling at the look on his face.

"What time is it?" he asked in a croaky voice, rubbing his head.

"It's just gone half five," Jenny said, checking her watch.

"What?" he said in a scandalized voice, his eyes finally widening. "Have you lost it? I only went to sleep three hours ago!"

"Well that's your own fault!" Jenny insisted, unzipping the tent further to see both Conner and Cutter still fast asleep behind him. "UP!"

They both jolted awake, rubbing their eyes. Jenny had a surge of satisfaction run through her at the sight of startling Cutter, so she had to remind herself abruptly that she was no longer in high school. She needed to be more mature.

"Be ready to go in five minutes," she ordered, trying not to laugh as she zipped it back up again to give them a bit of privacy.

Just then Abby stumbled out of her tent, giving Jenny a look that clearly stated that she resented being up before the birds were.

"We need to get this done now," Jenny said in response to her silent protest. "The quicker we do, the quicker we can get out of here and I can sleep in a normal bed!"

"I know, you were awful; you were tossing and turning all night," Abby murmured.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"More like kept me awake," Abby replied.

"I'm sorry," Jenny repeated, feeling rather guilty - ever since . . . well for the last few months, she had become rather an insomniac.

"It's okay," Abby sighed, before smiling. "Are they awake yet?" she added, gesturing at the boys tent.

"Yeah, they're just getting ready."

"Hmmm . . ." Abby said, sounding unsure. "I can't hear any noises . . ."

Jenny paused and listened . . . Abby was right; there was complete silence - they'd gone back to sleep!

"WAKE UP!" she yelled, banging on the tent.

********

A short while later, they were all approaching the cave that was now visible due to the tide being out. Everyone was in a bleary silence, accept for Jenny and Conner who it seemed were more morning people than the rest of them. They walked ahead, chatting about how unfair it was that Lester was probably fast asleep in his posh apartment when they were all stuck here searching for a vicious unidentified creature on a cold beach. However, they stopped talking immediately as something in Jenny's bag started beeping incessantly - it was the Handheld Anomaly Detector. Jenny fished out in a panic, just as everyone else's began to sound as well.

"It's in the cave," Cutter deduced, staring at the screen.

"We should have bought the guns!" Stephen sighed, as though angry with himself.

"Well why don't you and Conner run back and get them, and we'll guard the anomaly?" Jenny suggested, unwilling to be the one to journey back.

They both agreed and took off in the direction they had came from. Jenny, Abby and Cutter continued on to the cave in silence, although Jenny could tell that they felt the same trepidation she did - any creature could come through, and according to what the barman had said, probably already had. As they came to the mouth of the cave, Jenny could see the flickering light bouncing off the rock faces . . . she was suddenly hit with an overwhelming desire to be holding a gun. Cutter put his hand on Jenny's shoulder, indicating that he wanted to go first, so she pulled back and walked with Abby, both of them fishing their torches out. They moved forward slowly incase some creature was waiting under the cover of darkness, all three of them walking in a tight grouped formation . . . and there it was. No matter how many times Jenny saw an anomaly, it never failed to take her breath away; it was so beautiful. How could it be that something that amazing could create such danger for everyone?

"I don't think there's anything else in here," Cutter whispered, approaching the anomaly.

"So what now?" Abby asked.

"Well, I'll get in touch with Lester and tell him to - " Jenny began, but stopped short as she sensed more than heard movement behind them.

She whipped her head around quickly and nearly dropped her torch in shock . . . there was a huge Crocodile in the mouth of the cave; but it was unlike any Crocodile Jenny had ever seen on the television. It was about twice the size with strange long legs that looked wrong - this creature clearly didn't belong on Newquay beach. Jenny froze in fright for a millisecond, before shaking herself out of it.

"Cutter!" she hissed, slapping him on the shoulder.

He and Abby turned around; the latter suppressing a gasp. Immediately, Cutter dived in front of them.

"Back up!" he whispered urgently, obviously eager to put as much space between them and the creature as possible.

Up until now, the creature itself seemed to pause, unsure of whether to attack or not. However, the sight of them retreating backwards seemed to have sparked it's interest, as it let out an earth-shattering roar and reared up on it's hind legs. Jenny felt her heart leap out of her throat - there was no way out! They were trapped between a very angry prehistoric Crocodile and a gate way to the past; either one would spell certain death.

The creature advanced surprisingly rapidly for it's size, and Cutter increased the pressure on them so that they stumbled backwards awkwardly. All of a sudden it lunged and it's jaw seemed to clamp around Cutter's leg. He yelled and fell backwards onto Abby and Jenny. She registered the atmosphere around them change and the ground left her feet. They tumbled downwards, entwined together in a mass of tangled limbs. Finally, they stopped in a heap; Jenny feeling her body erupt in pain. Dazed and confused, she raised her head with difficulty and looked around; they were on a hard dusty ground surrounded by strange tall trees and odd-shaped leaves. In the distance, about a dozen horse-like creatures were drinking from a lake on the plain and grazing on the reeds.

"THE ANOMALY!" Abby cried, her eyes wide with panic.

Jenny looked up the hill they had just fell down in time to see the anomaly flickering in a way that clearly meant it was about to disappear. She looked around at Cutter, wondering why he was being so quiet and nearly vomited - his jeans were torn and his leg was badly mangled and bleeding copiously. Immediately, Jenny and Abby scrambled to their feet and attempted to heave him up onto his good leg . . . but it was too late. When they turned around, they saw that the anomaly had disappeared.

"It's gone," breathed Abby in obvious disbelief.

Jenny felt her heart plummet . . . they were stuck here. And she didn't even know where 'here' was.

"We need to get somewhere safe," said Cutter through gritted teeth; he was clearly in a lot of pain.

All Jenny could think about was seeing to his leg, but he was right; they were too exposed here, and who knows how many other Crocodiles were around.

"There are some caves over there," Abby said, pointing in the distance. "They might be uninhabited."

It was a long way to go, but it seemed like the only option.

It took them an awfully long time to get there; Cutter could only limp slowly, each step seemingly causing terrible pain. He didn't complain, but by the time the cave was in full view, he was only semi-conscious. Abby and Jenny struggled to hold him up, and just as they reached the caves mouth, his knees buckled. They half carried him into the tiny cave that seemed to be empty. They all fell in a heap, panting heavily.

As soon as they caught their breath back, Abby hurried back out; probably to check nothing was following them. Jenny turned Cutter onto his back and was shocked to see how pale he was. He was conscious however, despite the fact that his breathing was erratic. Jenny reached down and pulled his shredded jeans up to better see his leg; she barely suppressed a gasp - it was bad. _Very bad_.

"How's it looking?" Cutter asked quietly through gritted teeth.

"It's . . . it's going to be fine," Jenny lied as she fished in her bag for the water bottle.

"Liar," Cutter said with an attempt of a smile.

"Just shut up and let me dress it," Jenny said; she knew that if she was too nice it would give away how scared she was for him.

She poured as much of the water on his wound as she thought they could spare. Cutter's face contorted in pain, and she heard a sharp intake of breath.

"I'm sorry," Jenny whispered.

She needed some material to wrap around it to try and stem the bleeding, and was struck with a sudden inspiration. She hastily unbuttoned her waistcoat and blouse, and pulled them off her shoulders; Cutter looked up and blinked in shock at seeing her in her bra.

"Are you trying to cheer me up?" he smiled weakly.

"It's nothing you haven't seen before, right?" she said, concentrating on ripping her blouse into four large pieces.

She wrapped one of them around his leg and applied pressure, making him squirm slightly.

"Give me your belt," Jenny demanded, her hands shaking with the amount of blood on them.

"You're choosing the wrong time to hit on me Jenny," he smirked as he pulled his belt from around his waist and handing it over to her.

"You wish," she smiled, as she tightened the belt over the blouse piece, securing it in place.

"I think you're taking advantage of me," he teased, his breathing still sharp.

"How does that feel?" Jenny asked him nervously, ignoring his comment as she put her waistcoat back on.

"It feels good," he replied, resting his head back on the floor. "I think you missed your calling . . ."

"I think I've got some Aspirin in here for the pain," Jenny said slowly as she rooted in her bag. "I know it won't do much, but it's better than nothing . . ."

"I can't have Aspirin; it's an anti-platelet drug," Cutter explained, trying to sit up on his elbows. "I'll bleed out quicker."

"How about Paracetamol?" she suggested. "I think I've got some of them too . . ."

"What are you, a drug dealer?"

"Oh for Goodness sake Cutter, it's not like I'm offering you crack Cocaine - "

"I've had a look around," interrupted Abby as she re-entered the cave. "There's a lake not far from here, and a forest were the anomaly was. And from what I can see, there are no predators around. How are you?" she added, looking at Cutter.

"I'm okay," he smiled back, obviously trying to down-play his injury. "What sort of animals are out there?"

"There's a herd of small horse-type mammals, and I saw a rhino-like creature on the other side of the plain."

"I think were in the Eocene period then," Cutter said, slouching back down again as he obviously had no strength to hold himself up. "Fifty-million years ago. I think the Crocodile was Pristichampsus and the Horses are Orohippus . . ."

"While that's very interesting Cutter," Jenny said sarcastically. "Can we talk about what the hell were going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Abby asked, sitting down next to her.

"About getting out of here!" Jenny said in disbelief; how were they not thinking the same thing as her?

"Well the anomaly's gone," Cutter said quietly. "There's no point in talking about it unless it reappears, and the hand-held's will alert us of it."

"So we've just got to accept the fact were never getting out of here?"

"No; it's obviously opened a lot in the past," Cutter said, wincing slightly as he twitched his leg. "We just have to survive until then."

Jenny and Abby exchanged a look; they both knew (and she was sure Cutter did also) that if his wound got infected, that might not be possible.

********

**It would have been very easy to just have Cutter and Jenny trapped alone together, but I thought it was a tad convenient, so I added Abby to the mix too. Let me know your thoughts . . .**


	21. Routine

Chapter 21

It had been four days since they had found themselves stranded in the Eocene period, and in Jenny's opinion, they had slipped into a very good routine. In the day-time, Abby collected some fire wood, and tried to hunt using a sharpened stick she had fashioned. She had only managed to bring back a small horse once, but it had sufficed to keep them rather well fed. The sharpened stick had also come in useful when it came to fending off some Hyena-like creature that had approached, snarling.

Jenny spent her time collecting rain water in her bottle and picking various fruits that looked edible. She had also become rather an expert at lighting a fire and cooking on it with a spit. At night time, they both took it turns to guard the entrance of the cave while the other one slept.

Cutter had gotten much worse since there first day there; so much so that Jenny was worried sick about him. His wound was clearly infected; whether by the bacteria in the environment or from the Crocodile's saliva. Jenny tried to change the dressings on it as much as possible, but they were running out of material to use. They had already torn up Abby's jacket and tights as Jenny was unable to spare any more items of clothing unless she wanted to wonder around naked. Her waist coat and pants were incredibly filthy and torn already.

On their fifth night there, Jenny was sitting against the cave mouth looking out onto the darkening plain as Abby slept next to her. It was deadly silent; all that could be heard was Abby's soft, rhythmic breathing and Cutter's feverish mutterings. Then, all of a sudden, he let out a painful gasp. Jenny hurried over to him, hating seeing him like that. She placed her hand on his forehead, and pulled it away immediately - he was burning hot. She dampened one of the last remaining pieces of material with some water and held it to his face and neck to give him some mild relief; he opened his eyes at her touch. They focused on her, and his lips twitched slightly into a smile.

"Hey you," he whispered so quietly so that it was barely audible.

"Hi," she smiled down at her, unconsciously stroking his hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay," he lied.

He reached up, which seemed to cost him all the effort in the world, and took her hand, holding it close to him.

"I bet you're sick of taking care of me," he croaked.

"Not at all," she replied softly with a smile. "But I've written it all down on the list of crappy things that you've got to make up for."

"God that list must be getting long by now," he smirked, closing his eyes again.

"It's about the same length as that plain out there," she teased, still stroking his hair. "I'll let you get some rest . . ."

"No," he said sharply, pulling her in closer by her hand. "I need you to listen to me . . . if something happens to me - "

"Cutter - "

"_Listen_," he said, his breathing heavy. "If something happens to me, you've got to promise to leave me here and get yourselves out - "

"No - "

"You get yourself out of here no matter what . . . you and Abby . . ."

"Nick, I'm never going to leave you - "

"No," he breathed, his voice alarmingly faint. "I need to know that you're going to be okay . . ."

"You're not leaving me here," Jenny cried, putting her forehead on his chest to hide the tears in her eyes.

"I don't think I'm going to have a choice . . ."

"You just need to hold on for me," Jenny whispered, looking up into his eyes that looked incredibly heavy. "Just hold on . . . we'll get you home."

"Jenny - "

"NO Nick," Jenny snapped, sitting up. "I'm not discussing this anymore! Your not dying - "

"We both no that's not true," he breathed. "And I need to know that you'll be safe - "

Jenny shut him up by leaning in and kissing him full on the lips. He took a few seconds to respond, but when he did, he did so with surprising enthusiasm for his weakened state. When she pulled away, his eyes were brighter than she had seen them in days.

"You're not going anywhere," Jenny whispered to him, stroking his face.

"Whatever you say Jenny Lewis," he smiled, closing his eyes again.

********

When Cutter had nodded off to sleep again, Jenny returned to her post at the cave entrance. It was about time to wake Abby and go to sleep herself, but as she knew she wouldn't be able to settle, she thought it best to let the girl sleep. She sunk to the floor, pulled her knees up to her chin and before she knew it, she was sobbing quietly. She had to get him out of here . . . _she had to!_

"Jenny?" Abby's voice said gently from behind her.

Jenny looked up in alarm, and hastily wiped the tears under her eyes away.

"It's okay, I'll stay up and keep watch," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Go back to sleep."

"Jenny you need to rest too," Abby said quietly, sitting down next to her.

Jenny remained silent, and looked back towards the pitch black plane.

"How is he?" Abby asked nervously.

"Not good," Jenny replied in a hollow voice.

They were quiet for a while, both knowing and not saying the thing they were both thinking.

"Jenny - " Abby began, but she cut her off.

"Abby, I really don't want to talk about this right now . . ."

"But it's been almost a week - "

"Please," Jenny breathed, looking at her friend hard. "I just don't want to discuss this right now okay?"

Abby nodded and dropped the subject reluctantly. Both women just stared out into the strange world around them, both taking silent comfort in each others invisible presence.

********


	22. Saved?

**I'm so so sorry for my lack of updates, I've had two horrible exams and two more on the way next week. Aah the joys of further education! Anyway here's another chapter to tide you over until I'm free to update as often as usual . . . you have CakeyxClickx to thank for it :-D enjoy and please review!**

Chapter 22

A few days later, Jenny was propping up Cutter's upper body on her lap and tilting back his head to try and get him to drink something. He was now permanently unconscious, except for the odd few minutes were he strayed between waking and sleeping. However, he seemed to be in so much pain during these moments that Jenny was actually thankful when he was out for the count. As she held him, she could feel the fever burning through his jacket.

"Come on," Jenny whispered to him as she held his chin up gently in one hand and the water bottle in the other. "Just drink . . . even a little bit."

She poured a tiny bit into his dry, parted lips which made him choke slightly and spit it out.

"No, no, no," she said to him quietly, although she was sure he couldn't hear her. "You need to drink . . ."

She pulled his head up again.

"Jenny . . ." he mumbled faintly, taking her by surprise.

"Yes I'm here," Jenny whispered, tears streaming down her face and into his hair. "I need you to drink some water for me; can you do that?"

He remained silent, although Jenny could have sworn that she felt his head jolt slightly in an attempted nod. So again, she poured a minute bit of water into his mouth, but this time, with what seemed like a huge effort, he swallowed. Jenny almost sang in relief, as he had drank nothing for two days and seemed dangerously dehydrated. She repeated the process several times; each time Cutter allowed the water to trickled down his throat.

"Thank you," Jenny whispered in his ear when the water had gone, before placing his head gently back down on the ground.

She watched him for a long while, tenderly stroking his face; rubbing her fingers over his frown lines on his forehead. She longed for him to wake up . . . to tell her that everything was going to be alright . . . she wiped the tears from her face; she couldn't be weak here . . . Cutter needed her to be strong now . . .

Just as she was straightening up, Abby re-entered the cave with a handful of fruit and a somber expression. Her appearance had changed immensely since being trapped here; her platinum blonde hair was caked in mud, the colour of her clothes were no longer discernable and the worried expression she permanently wore made her look as though she had aged ten years in such a small space of time. However, Jenny couldn't help but feel so thankful that she was here; she was in little doubt that neither her nor Cutter would have survived this long without her. Also, her company and conversation took Jenny's mind off their current predicament some-what, and stopped her from cracking up completely.

Jenny caught her gaze, and offered her a weak smile, which Abby returned.

"I got him to drink," Jenny informed her, helping her place the fruit in a pile on the driest part of the cave.

"Oh that's brilliant," Abby smiled at her. "Did he wake up?"

"For a few seconds."

Abby nodded, and looked away; possibly because she was unable to keep up the false hopefulness that she had displayed. Jenny hated herself for thinking it, but she knew that Abby's unspoken words were right; it didn't matter if Cutter drank an entire lake, he was still unlikely to survive more than a few days without medical treatment. As soon as this thought popped up in her head, she batted in down; Cutter was strong . . . if anyone could pull through it, it was him.

After checking on Cutter again, the women took a piece of fruit over to the cave entrance and took up their preferred stations; it had become their custom to eat in this manner, looking out onto this strange world. They watched as a herd of tiny horses grazed in the distance, their fouls frolicking around them.

"I wonder what Conner's doing right now?" Abby sighed, more to herself than to Jenny.

"He's probably worried sick about you," Jenny replied, chucking the rest of the fruit she couldn't eat out.

"About us," Abby corrected her.

"Yes, but more so about you," Jenny smiled; she knew from the moment that she had started at the ARC that Abby and Conner had a . . . a thing.

Abby paused for a second, as though bracing herself to say something.

"You . . . er . . . you and Conner are pretty close?" Abby started, looking at Jenny with a rather embarrassed look in her eye. "Has he . . . has he ever said anything about me?"

"Er . . ." Jenny said straining her memory. " . . . he asked me once if I thought you liked him."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him to ask you," Jenny smiled back. "I take it he never did?"

"No," Abby sighed, although she looked rather pleased. "Being here . . . being stuck away from everyone makes you think about things doesn't it?"

"Like what?"

"Like how much time you waste," Abby said, her voice shaking slightly.

"Yep it certainly does," Jenny replied, glancing back into the cave as an unconscious Cutter.

There was silence for a while, as both women's mind strayed back to when they had everything they ever wanted, but didn't know it.

"He still love's you, you know," Abby whispered, out of the blue.

Jenny looked around at her.

"How do you know?" she asked, trying not to sound so eager. "Has he ever said anything to you?"

"You know Cutter; he keeps a lot to himself. I can just tell - "

She was interrupted by a loud beeping sound that issued from the cave behind them. Both women looked around in disbelief . . . it was the hand-held anomaly detector! After the shock had abated, they scrambled up and hurried over to it. Abby got there first and studied the screen hungrily, scurrying back to the cave mouth.

"It's over there!" she shrieked, pointing to the place where the anomaly had disappeared in the first place, stranding them here.

Sure enough, Jenny could see the glint of the flickering light in the bright sun in the distance. Excitement bubbled up in her stomach . . . they were saved! They could get Cutter home!

"Let's go!" Abby screeched.

Both of them looked around at Cutter, who was oblivious to what was going on. How were they going to get him there?! Without speaking, Jenny hurried to his shoulders, and tried to heave him up. Abby helped by taking his legs, careful not to touch his wound. They carried him to the cave entrance, Jenny's arms already aching from supporting his weight. They put him down gently, panting and glancing back around at the anomaly. Jenny barely suppressed a gasp; there were people coming out of it . . . soldiers to be precise.

"They've come to get us!" Abby squeaked, jumping up and down. "Do you want me to run over and get them?"

Jenny nodded eagerly, before realisation hit her hard as she noticed the woman leading the group.

"ABBY!" she hissed, stopping her from going with a hand on the shoulder. "Who's that?" she continued, pointing.

Abby squinted her eyes, and her face drained of colour.

"Helen," she whispered, shaking slightly.

********


	23. She's back

Chapter 23

**Woop exams are over until May! :D Now I can finally finish this story!**

Without needing to say a word, both Abby and Jenny seized Cutter's lifeless form again and hauled him back into the cave as fast as they could.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Abby panted as they stumbled hap-hazardously to the furthest corner of the cave.

"She must know we're here," Jenny breathed in reply, ignoring the panic that pulsated through her. "It's too much of a coincidence that she just happened to be in Newquay when an anomaly opened!"

"Unless the anomaly's moved?" Abby huffed as they placed Cutter down as gently as possible considering their arms felt like lead.

"What?" asked Jenny, straightening up. Why had she never heard anything about this before?

"Yeah they can move through our time, but stay in the same place in the past," Abby breathed as they both sprinted silently to the cave mouth. "Cutter could explain it better . . . I don't really get it myself."

They both peered slowly around the jagged rock to the place where Helen and her soldiers were standing.

"Well that would explain why our guys weren't the first ones threw," Jenny whispered, even though she knew that Helen was such a distance away that it wouldn't matter if she had sang it at the top of her lungs. "They've probably got a constant watch at the Newquay anomaly sight."

They watched in silence as Helen seemed to order the soldiers to spread out looking for something. Jenny tried to keep herself calm, but she had to admit that she was terrified of Helen; the woman had after all tried to kill her twice already, and she was the reason she didn't have a baby bouncing on her hip right now.

Jenny could hear Abby's breath quickening and could see why - two of the soldiers appeared to be making their way right over to them!

"Shit!" Abby squeaked as they both withdrew their heads from view. They slammed their backs against the wall, both breathing hard. "What are we gonna do?!"

Jenny closed her eyes, her brain racing with possible ways to get to the anomaly without being spotted. None of them, however, were at all plausible without the certainty of being mowed down by bullets half way there.

"I don't know," she conceded, looking around at Abby whose face was contorted in panic. "It's not like we can fight our way out . . . we don't have any weapons and they've got those massive guns . . ."

"Well can't you think of anything?"

"Oh I'm sorry," Jenny snapped, losing her temper. "I think I missed the ARC's training course about how to fight your way through a dozen armed soldiers with nothing but a sharpened stick - "

"I was only asking!"

"Well I'm sick of it being on my head to protect us just because I'm a little older than you!"

"It's nothing to do with that - !" Abby began in a scandalized voice, but Jenny clamped her hand to Abby's mouth and pulled her into herself.

"Ssssh!" Jenny hissed into her ear.

Abby gave a muffled cry, obviously thinking that Jenny had lost the plot completely and decided to attack her, but after a few seconds she became silent as she heard what Jenny herself had picked up on - the sound of male voices approaching the cave.

********

**Sorry it's a short chapter but the next one will be longer I promise! X x x**


	24. Trapped

**Hello again, sorry for my long absence from fanfic writing, I've been unbelievably busy. So here's the next chapter, but be warned that it is rather disturbing and probably shouldn't be read if you are quite sensitive. But for those who do read enjoy :D**

Chapter 24

Jenny backed up into the corner of the cave silently, pulling Abby with her, trying desperately to control the flurry of panic that seemed to engulf her mind. She could feel Abby's breathing quicken on the palm of the hand that was still clamped to her mouth. Heavy scuffling and scraping noises coupled with the sound of dislodged stones told Jenny that the men, however many there were, were merely a few hundred yards from the cave entrance. Their voices had become louder and more discernable. Jenny pulled Abby into a crouching position in the dark corner and closed her eyes praying . . ._ please don't come in here . . . please . . ._

"We ought to check in there," a gruff voice stated, and Jenny could see him in her minds eye gesturing to the cave to his faceless companion.

"Nothing will be living in there," replied another posher and slightly stricter-sounding voice. "The cave mouths too wide, it's not a suitable living environment."

"All the same . . ."

"All the same, I would rather not waste my time," the posh voice cut off the gruff one. "Remember what happened to Greg's team? I just want to find a few creatures and get out before the gate closes. I'm not time wasting by trawling uninhabited caves."

"Right," the gruff voice seemed to agree reluctantly, and their conversation seemed to become faded as if they were walking away.

Jenny felt relief flow through every part of her body as she let go of Abby's mouth. They both remained motionless in their positions, unwilling to move incase they were heard. But suddenly, at the worst possible time . . .

"JENNY," Cutter shouted in his disturbed sleep in the far corner.

Jenny's heart leaped to her mouth as she heard the scrapping noise of feet stopping dead in their tracks outside. Then came the unmistakable sounds of the soldiers marching back to the cave.

Jenny looked at Abby and saw the look of terror mirrored on her face. This was it . . . they were as good as dead. The shadows of two gigantic men appeared for a second on the cave wall adjacent to them before being replaced by the figures of the two slightly smaller but no less terrifying soldiers. Jenny stood up immediately, followed by Abby. She was sure that they both had the same unspoken thought - divert attention away from Cutter.

"Well well well then," said the man as his eyes fell on them. He was the man who evidently had the posh voice. He sounded delighted. "What have we got here then; two cave girls?"

"Women," corrected the gruff-voiced man who looked as mean as he sounded. "I think you'll find they're cave _women_ Mike," he continued, sounding highly amused at the situation.

"And what lovely women they are too Tony," Mike the posh soldier replied, approaching Abby slowly and reaching out to touch her mud-caked arm.

Abby withdrew it with a disgusted look on her face.

"And feisty too," laughed gruff-voiced Tony, looking at Jenny. "Mike, this ones more you're cuppa tea . . . look at her clothes. She's a toff just like you."

"A very filthy one too," replied Mike with a smile. "Do you like slumming it, sweetheart?"

Jenny replied with the dirtiest look she could muster. She could feel Abby's arm trembling beside her own, but when she chanced a half-glance around at her, her face was set in an impassive expression. She, like Jenny, seemed determined not to give away how scared she was. Also, Jenny felt some small relief that the two men hadn't noticed Cutter in the far corner, and as long as he didn't make another noise, he should be safe.

"Not the chatty kind then," smirked Mike with a satisfied glance at his friend. "That's okay darling . . . that's just how I like my women."

"I bet you two have been waiting a long time for strong dashing gentlemen such as ourselves to come and rescue you," Tony interjected in a gruffly-sarcastic tone. "But what do we get out of it?"

Jenny felt a warning signal going off in her head . . . this was not good. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next, but could think of nothing she could do to protect herself, or Abby. _Why were men such vile brutes?_

The soldiers both laughed and approached them in one quick movement; the one called Mike grabbing Jenny and the other Abby. They pinned them up against the cave wall. Jenny could feel the sharp shards of rock cutting into her back as she fought to release herself from the soldier's grip. She was not going to give up without a fight. Clearly Abby was thinking along the same lines as a few seconds later, the soldier called Tony withdrew one of his arms with a yelp.

"The bitch just bit me!" he exclaimed, before rasing his hand and slapping Abby hard across the face.

"STOP IT!" Jenny squealed as she watched her friends lip burst open in a flurry of blood. "Leave - her - alone!"

"So you do have a voice," Mike laughed, as he used all him weight to keep Jenny against the wall. "You just stay quiet like a good girl and this will be over in a flash," he breathed in her ear.

Jenny felt him reach downwards in a motion that looked like he was unzipping his pants. She needed to do something . . . _anything! _So she did the first thing that popped in to her mind; the first thing women were taught in all self-defense classes - she aimed her knee and jammed it hard into his crotch. The man swore and doubled over, clutching the area . but before Jenny had a chance to react, he had straightened up again.

"You . . ." he said in a dangerous whisper, as he made to launch himself at her again.

However, he stopped short as the radio on his belt (and his companions) issued a voice that scared Jenny more than these two combined . . . it was Helen.

"Has anyone found any creatures worth taking?" her voice echoed around the cave.

The soldier holding Abby released her, and exchanged a meaningful look with the other before sighing and picking up his radio.

"You better come and see this Ma'am . . . the biggest cave adjacent to the lake." He replaced his radio and added to Abby and Jenny in a menacing tone, "maybe we'll get some alone time later."

For once, Jenny couldn't help but be grateful to Helen for her convenient interruption, despite the fact that whatever Helen would have in store for them, it would probably be much worse.

********

**Please review :D**

**By the way, has anyone else noticed that all the stories on now (or at least 99% of them) are not Cutter/Jenny/Claudia ones?** **They all ship Conner and Abby :-( it's a real shame! Because, nothing against Conby parings, but Jutter and Click stories are my fav! Anyone with any new ideas in their head please share them with the world :) **

**Nikki x x x**


	25. The cell

Chapter 25

Jenny and Abby remained against the cave wall whilst the two soldiers pointed their guns at them to ensure their complete cooperation. They showed no further interest in their previous endeavor, and Jenny was sure it was because they didn't want to be caught with their trousers down by their boss. But as Helen was such a vile woman, Jenny doubted she'd object to them being violated in that way, and was half convinced the after attempting to extract any information from them, she'd either allow the soldiers to have them or else kill them straight away and be done with it. After all, it's not like Helen could let them skip merrily back to the ARC; they had heard too much. From what Jenny could gather, Helen (possibly at the direction of Leek) was collecting creatures from the past and taking them back to the present. They were most likely forming some sort of 'army', although how they expected to control such creatures was beyond Jenny's capacity to imagine. However, Jenny hardly cared about such matters; all she really cared about was Cutter. If she allowed Helen and her soldiers to discover him lying merely seven feet away, they would surely kill him. He may be her ex-husband, but that hadn't stopped her planting that bomb which could have easily killed any of them. Such blatant disregard for his life left Jenny in little doubt that she would not hesitate to either terminate him on the spot or leave him here to die alone. On the other hand, if Cutter's presence went unnoticed and Jenny and Abby were either killed or kidnaped, Cutter would be left to die anyway. This is what would inherently be defined as a catch twenty-two. Jenny had not cared for the book and cared less for the actual situation.

What felt like an age later, shuffling strides could be heard approaching the cave. Then she appeared wearing her usual camouflage get-up that was nearly as torn as the outfit Jenny herself was wearing. Her hair had been cut so that it was as short as a man's style, but it suited her; it seemed to top off the whole explorer look that she seemed to be going for. Upon seeing her after so long, the bubble of hate that Jenny had obviously been reserving just for Helen seemed to burst and hot anger seemed to pulsate through her at the mere sight of the woman.

"What have you - ?" Helen began to ask the soldiers, but she stopped abruptly as she spotted Jenny and Abby.

Her expression was a curious one. Her face was cold, and almost impassive, but her eyes gave her away. When they locked with Jenny's, they betrayed her recognition of them and widened slightly. If Jenny didn't know any better, she would of thought that Helen was scared. But why should she be? Here where her enemies . . . alone . . . unarmed . . . defenseless . . . surely that was what every psychopath dreams of? As she stared at her, Jenny thought she saw Helen's gaze flit over to the corner where Cutter lay hidden in the darkness, and for some reason, the colour seemed to drain from her face. However, she recovered herself almost immediately.

"Take these two back to The Base," Helen ordered the soldiers. "I'll follow you on, I just want to assess how they've been living. They are not to be harmed yet but if they struggle . . . you know what to do."

The soldiers nodded, and made to grab Jenny and Abby. However, Jenny smacked their hand away roughly and before she could stop herself she screamed at Helen:

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!"

"I think that would count as struggling" one of the soldiers said.

Then, before she was even aware of what was happening, Jenny felt, for the second time in her life, a cloth being clamped over her mouth, obviously soaked with chloroform. She tried to hold her breath as the putrid fumes seemed to seep into her pores, but it was futile. Before her vision fogged completely, her last sight was one of Abby collapsing onto the floor as she, herself, felt herself falling backwards into the body behind her.

********

Jenny felt her senses returning to her slowly; a dirty metallic smell filled her nostrils and the cold floor that she seemed to be lying on was freezing cold, so much so that her ear that was resting on it was numb. She opened her eyes which cost her an effort, but was unable to raise her head; she just didn't seem to be able to summon the energy. In her line of vision was a large metal door which was no doubt locked. From this, she deduced that she was in a cell. But were was Abby? What had happened to Cutter? At this thought, Jenny seemed to find the strength to heave herself up onto her arms, which were surprisingly untied. Upon looking around, she spotted Abby, still apparently unconscious a few feet away from her. They were, in fact, in a small square cell ; the walls were metal, dirty and rusted in places. The only movement was coming from a fan on the peeling ceiling that revolved slowly to spread the little oxygen that came in through the two tiny vents on the walls around the room. A minuscule round window at the top of the farthest wall allowed little light to enter, making the room incredibly dull.

Jenny half crawled over to Abby and tried to revive her.

"Abby," she said in a horse whisper as she shook her roughly. "Abby, wake up!"

The girl's eyes flickered open, but were unfocused and heavy. Jenny placed her hands on either side of Abby's face to try and get her to recognise her. Finally, they seemed to focus.

"Jenny?" she asked in a croaky voice; neither of their body's seemed to be working properly, no doubt because of the drugs.

Jenny helped Abby sit up slowly; she looked very dazed and confused.

"Were are we?" she asked after a while of having her face in her hands.

"I don't know," Jenny answered truthfully. "In some sort of cell in 'The Base" probably."

"And Cutter?"

"I don't know," Jenny replied quietly, before attempting to stand up. She found herself unsteady on her feet and extremely dizzy, which forced her to sit back down.

"Maybe he's . . ." Abby began, but stopped as the large metal door seemed to be opening.

Instinctively, both women scurried over to the far wall and waited for those soldiers to come and finish what they started. But it was Helen.

"I see you're awake," she said, as she closed the door behind her. It was not a question, so the women remained silent. She continued, "I don't suppose either of you would like to tell me what you were doing in the Eocene epoch?"

Again, the two remained silent, unwilling to feed that horrible woman with any information.

"Very well," she nodded, with a knowing smile on her face. "I'll come back when you two are in a more talkative mood . . ."

She turned to leave, but Jenny could not let her go . . . not without knowing.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet shakily. "Where's Cutter? What's happened to him?"

Helen turned and back at Jenny with an unreadable expression. After a long pause, she looked down at the floor.

"He's dead," she said in a hollow voice. "I did all I could, but he died on the way back here."

Jenny felt as though ice had landed in the pit of her stomach. No . . . no . . . it couldn't be true . . . not Cutter, he's strong . . .

"You're lying," Jenny spat back, hot tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Helen said quietly, before leaving and shutting the door behind her. The unmistakable sound of a bolt could be heard.

Jenny couldn't believe it. No, she _wouldn't_ believe it! She rushed over to the door and banged on it with both hands, all tiredness forgotten.

"YOU'RE LYING!" she screamed through the door, determined not to stop banging until someone told her the truth.

She could feel Abby's hands on her shoulder's trying to pull her back away from the door; could hear her voice saying meaningless words of comfort. But she didn't care. All she cared about was that deep down inside her, she knew that Helen was telling the truth.

********


	26. We need a plan

Chapter 26

Jenny had completely lost track of how long ago they had been taken from the Eocene time period. Perhaps it was because she couldn't summon up the interest to count the days; maybe it was because all of the days seemed to blend into one. She did know, however, that they had been moved into a different larger room that was slightly more homely; they had been given new generic clothes to wear that included black pants and a white top that were much too big; either because they were the wrong size or because of the weight they had lost since they had been away from home. They were given food (that was rather inedible) and bathroom breaks twice a day. Perhaps other prisoners would have been happier that they were being treated better, but Jenny had another theory; their captives - who ever they were - were intending to keep them here for a long time, and needed to keep them alive for a purpose; and Jenny doubted it was something good.

Abby did her best to try and keep Jenny's spirits up, but she failed miserably. Acting normally was unbearable to Jenny, but she could not bring herself to think about Cutter being dead, let alone speak about it. To say it aloud would be to make it real, absolute and irreversible. The odd thing was that since she had first got the news that Cutter was dead, she had not cried again. All she felt was this terrible numbness that seemed to grow more and more with each day. It was as though there was a dark hole inside her heart where Cutter had been; a hole that she wasn't ready to examine, and most certainly not ready to talk about.

One particular day, Abby was attempting to draw Jenny into a conversation about escape plans, but when Jenny showed no interest it seemed that Abby lost her temper.

"For goodness sake Jenny, you've got to snap out of this!" she exclaimed.

Jenny looked around at her slowly, and saw that her face was contorted in worry and panic. The cut on her lip had knitted itself together, but the area was still rather swollen.

"I can't," Jenny replied quietly, looking away again.

"Jen, I know you're upset and I get it . . . I cared about him too."

"I know that," Jenny conceded in a mouse voice.

"But you've got to snap into survival mode," Abby continued, shaking her by the arms to try and put inject some fight in her. "Cutter wouldn't want to see us trapped in here forever, or used in some horrible experiment, or whatever the hell their planning to do with us."

The stabbing pain that Jenny felt at the mention of his name made her temporarily speechless.

"There's nothing we can do," Jenny answered eventually in a defeatist tone.

"Jen, this isn't you!" Abby said in obvious frustration. "You're stronger than this! That's why Cutter loved you, and that's why I need you to get a grip and help me figure out how to get out of here. I can't do it alone!"

"There's no point any more,"Jenny answered.

"There is every point," Abby said, adopting a gentler tone after the 'tough love' approach failed. "Cutter wouldn't want this for you."

Jenny knew she was right; she knew that if Cutter was alive he would have been desperately trying to save them. But it was so hard to think about getting out of the prison and going out into the real world where there is no Professor Nick Cutter waiting for her; where she would have to stop being in denial. But she was being selfish; Abby had a life waiting for her out there that hadn't stopped because of Nick's death. She had to help her get them out of here; it's what Cutter would have wanted.

"Okay," Jenny said faintly, and as though this was an idea that was waiting to be taken notice of, she knew the first thing they had to do.

********

"Can you see anything?" Jenny asked in a strained voice as she fought to keep Abby steady on her shoulders.

"Just a courtyard and a some other buildings," Abby replied, peering through the tiny rectangular window that even she, as small as she was, wouldn't fit through.

"Does it open?" Jenny asked, clenching her teeth through the pain.

"Yeah."

"Then hurry up," Jenny hissed, looking around at her top that had been thrown haphazardly over the camera in the corner. "Some one's going to notice that all they can see through the camera is darkness at some point."

"Okay, hang on," Abby whispered as she dropped Jenny's necklace and her own mutlicoloured sweat band through the window and waited until she heard them pat quietly on the ground. "Okay, we're good."

"Get down then, my necks about to snap."

"Okay, just let me shimmy down - "

"Be careful - "

"I can't get - "

"ABBY!"

Jenny lost her balance and both women landed painfully in a tangled mass of limbs.

"How very 'The L-word' of us," Jenny groaned as she extracted herself and hurried over to put her top back on.

"Wait, did you just make a joke?" Abby smiled, whilst rubbing her head.

"Just a little one," Jenny replied, matching her smile with a fake one of her own.

"Good for you," Abby said, obviously happy that she seemed more herself.

Jenny had made a pact with herself to put every thought she had about Cutter in a little box in her head for her to examine when she got out of here. There would be a time to grieve for the man she loved, an this was not it.

"So do you think that'll work?" Abby continued.

"It better do; that necklace was worth more than you're car."

"Be serious!"

"Well if they do find out that whatever Helen's up to she's doing it here, they might spot them and know we're here," Jenny answered. "It's a long shot, but at least we have that basis covered."

"So what now?" Abby asked.

"We wait until Helen comes in."

********


	27. Awake

Chapter 27

His eyes were incredibly heavy; so much so that for a long while he didn't open them. Instead he listened to the strange noises around him. It was only when he heard two very familiar voices approaching that he finally allowed his eyes to flicker open.

"You're awake!" Stephen's voice exclaimed happily; his face swimming before his eyes.

Cutter tried to speak, but found that he his throat was too painful to form any sound. His unfocused eyes traveled around the room. He was obviously in a hospital.

"We've been so worried!" Stephen continued, his face finally focusing as he took a seat next to the bed Cutter was lying in. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are?"

Cutter's eyes darted to the man who took a seat next to Stephen; it was Conner. But he didn't have his usual air of excitement around him; in fact his eyes were swollen and bloodshot, and the smile that he offered Cutter didn't have it's usual genuine warmth in it.

"What . . ." Cutter croaked, but found that he didn't have the strength to continue.

"You've been unconscious for days," Stephen answered his unasked question. "We found you outside an anomaly in the Forest of Dean. The anomaly must have moved. You were nearly dead. We thought . . ."

"Jenny . . ." Cutter mumbled, unable to form the full question.

He noted that Stephen exchanged a worried look with Conner before continuing like he had never uttered her name:

"You've had Septicemia; you're lucky that you didn't lose you're leg - "

"Jenny," Cutter breathed again, determined to get his answer. ". . . Abby . . ."

Again, Stephen looked back at Conner, who gave him a nod of sad encouragement. Stephen sighed.

"There was a note attached to you when we found you," Stephen said slowly. "From Helen."

Cutter remained silent, but even in his confused state, he knew that if Helen was involved, it wouldn't be good.

" . . . it said that she had found you in the Eocene epoch," Stephen continued after a slight pause. "That she had given you a shot of antibiotics and left you for us to find outside the anomaly. And she also said - "

Stephen seemed unable to continue for a second; the happiness he had displayed at Cutter's awakening replaced by a sad solemness.

" . . . she said that Jenny and Abby were dead," he finished, looking away.

Cutter felt as though his insides had melted. No. No, that's not true. He had a bleary recollection of Jenny and Abby in a cave . . . they were fine. They're not dead . . . they couldn't be. They just couldn't. Abby, a spirited, beautiful young woman with her whole life ahead of her. And Jenny . . . Jenny . . . the most amazing, intriguing, beautiful woman he had ever met. It wasn't true. They couldn't be . . .

"No . . ." was all he could say.

He turned his head away from them as tears pricked in his eyes. He felt a hand, possibly Stephen's, on his shoulder in what was obviously supposed to be a comforting gesture. But it wasn't needed.

Jenny was not dead.

She couldn't be.

********

A few days later, Cutter was sitting on his hospital bed, fully dressed, and waiting for Stephen to come and pick him up. He was desperate to get back to the ARC; desperate for someone to tell him that it wasn't true; desperate to see Abby skipping around with a lizard in her arms; desperate to see Jenny rolling her eyes at him. But something inside him told him that this was not going to happen.

Both he and Stephen sat in the car in silence; it was only when Stephen made to turn down a route that was not to the ARC that Cutter spoke.

"You're going the wrong way," Cutter insisted.

"I'm taking you home," Stephen informed him quietly. "You're not ready to come back to work."

"Stephen I'm barely holding it together as it is," Cutter whispered, as he tried not to let his voice break. "I need to go to the ARC - "

"But - "

"I swear to God Stephen, if you don't take me to the ARC right now I won't be held responsible for my actions."

"Okay, okay," Stephen sighed, making a sharp u-turn.

********

The ARC was certainly not how he remembered it; the usual bustle and fast paced atmosphere had been replaced by dreary silence and robotic movements. Without a further word to Stephen, Cutter limped up the ramp straight to Lester's office. As he walked, he noticed that all the technicians everted their eyes from his face and wore a solemn expression.

He walked into Lester's office without knocking. The civil servant looked up from his files, his expression becoming stony.

"Cutter - "

"Where is she?" Cutter demanded, limping forward.

"You're not supposed to be here - "

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Cutter barked, losing his temper; why was no-body telling him the truth?

Lester sighed deeply, and looked down at his desk.

"Sit down Cutter," he said in an unnaturally gentle tone.

"No, I'm fine standing," Cutter snapped. "Now, I won't ask you again - "

"She's dead," Lester said quietly. "You know she is."

"No, she can't be . . ."

"I thought you were going to take him home?" Lester asked, addressing Stephen who had followed Cutter into the office.

"I tried, but - " Stephen began.

"I need to see her!" Cutter interrupted. "If you know she's dead, there must be a body!"

"We didn't manage to get the bodies back, the anomaly closed - " Lester began.

"Then how do you know their dead!"

"You didn't tell him?" Lester asked Stephen, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"No, I was going to but - "

"Tell me WHAT!?" Cutter exploded.

The two men remained silent for a few seconds before Lester reached into a file and pulled out what looked like a photograph. He handed it over to Cutter.

"This was with the note Helen left," Lester said quietly. "She obviously knew we wouldn't believe her without evidence . . ."

Cutter looked down and the picture and felt his stomach twist . . . it was of Abby and Jenny.

Dead.

They looked as though they could have been sleeping. The only thing that gave them away was the odd placement of their limbs and the blood patches on their faces and clothes. Jenny looked incredibly pale, but still as breathtakingly beautiful as he remembered. How could this be true?! How had he survived when he had been practically knocking on death's door?

He was numb.

He could feel nothing.

"Here is the note that was with it," Lester's voice said from many miles away.

In a dream-like state, Cutter reached out and took it. He looked down at it, but was unable to register any of the words. Instead, what jumped out at him was the blood stains on the paper.

"Why is this blood stained?" Cutter asked shakily.

"I duno," Stephen answered, his voice cracking. "Maybe she tried to resuscitate them and got blood on her hands - "

But Cutter didn't hear the rest of what he said, as before he could stop himself, he fell to his knees and vomited, letting the photograph and note fall from his hands and flutter slowly down to the floor.

********

**Helen is a scheming bi*ch :D **

**If it doesn't make sense to you yet, it will do in the upcoming chapters. Phew this is possibly the longest story EVER lol! **

**Please review!**


	28. Where is it this time?

Chapter 28

Cutter found himself lying on his arms on his desk at the ARC as he had done for the past few days. He couldn't bring himself to participate in any anomaly operation that came about, but he also couldn't bare the idea of going home to his empty house; full of the memory of her on that wonderful night that they shared together. So that left him in limbo; he couldn't work, and he couldn't go home.

Many times he heard the anomaly alarm go off, but he didn't move; instead burying his head more deeply into the desk. He had been approached by both Stephen asking for his expertise and guidance; and chastised by Lester. But each time he fobbed them off. He wanted to be alone, and yet being alone was unbearable.

One day, he heard a knock on his door, and looked up to see Conner entering. He wasn't the same Conner that Cutter had known and grown fond of; he was no longer the excitable, lovable geek the once was - he was sullen, quite and looked a lot more _manly_, for lack of a better word. As he walked in, he made eye contact and Cutter noticed the sadness behind his gaze.

"When are you going to snap out of this?" he said quietly, without so much as a greeting.

"What?" mumbled Cutter, looking away.

"The team needs you, but you prefer to lock yourself in here day and night," Conner continued in a hollow voice. "It's helping no one."

"Quite frankly, I don't give a toss about helping anyone," Cutter snapped.

"Clearly," Conner said coldly.

"Did you actually want something, or did you just come in here to have a go at me?"

"If Jenny could see you now - "

"Well she can't, can she?" exclaimed Cutter, losing his temper. "She's dead, and nothing matters anymore."

"Well next time your sitting here feeling sorry for yourself, think of the fact that at least you got to tell Jenny how you felt about her," Conner said, turning away to leave. "I didn't get that luxury with Abby."

He left, leaving Cutter feeling like the most selfish person in the world. In his grief, he had completely forgotten that other people cared about the girls as well. He was not the only one who had lost some one he loved. He watched Conner through the glass window as he slouched off down the ramp towards the Anomaly Detector, finally taking a seat in front of it with a sigh. Conner was handling this in the right way; he knew that Abby wouldn't want him to neglect his job at the expense of peoples lives for her. And Cutter knew that Jenny would feel the same.

As if to give him a second chance, the anomaly alarm sounded again as deafening as usual. Cutter watched as Conner typed away at lightening speed to find the coordinates. Reluctantly, but knowing he was doing the right thing, Cutter heaved himself to his feet. By the time made his way down the ramp unnoticed (and still limping slightly), Conner and Stephen were both huddled over the Detector talking fast.

"So where is it this time?" Cutter said loudly over the alarm.

Both men turned around. Stephen laughed and smacked him playfully on the back, and Conner offered him a weak smile that, despite the smallness of the gesture, made him feel better than he had done in a long while.

********

"Are you sure this is the place?" Stephen asked, looking around the courtyard of desolate buildings.

"I'm getting the same reading off the hand-held," Conner answered, holding up the mini-detector.

Cutter looked around vaguely, unable to stop himself feeling very uninterested by the proceedings. The one thing that made field-work so exhilarating was Jenny. He had never admitted it to her at the time, but he had loved arguing with her about how best to handle the public; loved watching her boss everyone around; loved watching her pretend they had the worst job in the world when they all knew they had the best. She was still his Claudia Brown, but a hardened version. Now that he thought about it, he'd never even really asked her about her past. He had never tried to find out why she had turned into Jenny Lewis instead of Claudia. There must have been a defining moment that had changed the corse of her life. But what was the point in thinking about that now? When she was gone . . . he had to make the effort to help out here; Conner was right - he was no use to anyone being aloof.

Then suddenly, his gaze wandered over something in the distance by a particular building. At first, he didn't know why his vision was draw here, then he saw it again. Something was glinting on the floor in the glistening sun. For one wild moment, he thought it was the anomaly, but on closer inspection, it was much too small.

"Cutter?" Stephen shouted after him as he walked away.

"I've just seen something," Cutter answered as he approached the strange light.

As he got closer, he noticed that it was in fact a silver locket-necklace that had caught the sunshine. He picked it up and inspected it closely; his heart skipping a beat.

"What is it?" asked Stephen, as he and Conner caught him up.

"This is Jenny's," Cutter stated, more to himself than anyone else. "I seen it on her all the time!"

"Cutter, I know you miss her - " Stephen began in a sympathetic voice.

"I swear to God, this is hers . . . look!" Cutter insisted, prizing open the clasp to open the locket.

Just as he thought, inside was a picture of Jenny and two women that Cutter did not know, but suspected they were old friends of hers. They were all in mid-laughter, caught in a moment of happiness by the camera. Cutter passed it to Stephen, excitement pulsating through his veins; she was alive!

"Nick, I know what you're thinking," Stephen said quietly, looking at the picture closely. "But this doesn't mean she's alive."

He went to pass the locket to Conner, but he didn't take it. When they looked around at him, they were surprised to see that he was crouching down picking up something multi-coloured.

"Conner - ?"

"This is Abby's," he whispered as he straightened up, looking at what appeared to be a sweat band like it was gold.

"Are you sure?" asked Cutter urgently.

"Yeah," he said with a smile that was much more Connerish that he had been in a long time. "I'd stake my life on it!"

Without another word, Cutter walked over to the beaten door of the building about two hundred yards away and pulled out his gun. He pulled the trigger and shot the window panel in it, not caring that the noise probably alerted everyone within a two mile radius of their presence.

"So much for being incognito," Stephen sighed, as he pulled out his own gun.

Conner followed suit, mirroring Cutter's feelings of excitement in his expression.

"Ready?" Cutter asked them.

They nodded silently. Cutter reached in through the broken glass and found the rusty bolt with shaking fingers. The fact that it was locked from the inside and not the outside made alarm bells sound in his head. But as he slid the lock back and pushed open the door, he found he didn't care. All he cared about was the ignition of hope that had sparked in his stomach at the sight of the locket. She was alive . . . he knew it!

********


	29. The plan in motion

Chapter 29

Jenny and Abby had been waiting for days for Helen to visit them in their cell again. It was as though the horrible woman was waiting for them to crack under the ordeal of being locked up for so long, hoping that they would be much more talkative on her next inspection. But their plan was in motion; all they had to do was wait, and hope that when Helen finally did come and see them, that she would be alone.

One day, the sun was shining unbearably brightly through the tiny panel window making the whole cell feel like a sauna.

"What if she never comes?" Abby said out-of-the-blue as she fanned her face with her hand.

"Oh she'll come," Jenny answered.

She knew Helen far more than she'd ever admit too; she understood the woman - she knew how she ticked. And the opportunity for Helen to taunt them about being locked up would be too much for her to resist. All they had to do was wait.

Then suddenly, both Jenny and Abby jumped out of their skins as they heard a gun shot outside, coupled with broken glass. It sounded extremely close.

"What the hell was that?" Abby whispered, looking at Jenny with wide eyes.

But before they had time to ponder this further, the sound of a bolt being undone from outside their door roused them into a panic. But in a split second, Jenny had taken her station at the side of the door, an old dirty top twisted tightly into a rope-like shape clutched in her trembling hands. Her heart hammered so hard that she wouldn't have been surprised if Helen heard it. The door creaked opened and Jenny was hidden from sight as Helen pushed the door up against the wall as she entered.

"Where's - ?" she began, but before she could finish, Jenny stepped out behind her and quickly placed the twisted top around the woman's neck.

She pulled it tight so that Helen fell back into her, gasping for breath. Jenny felt her reach down into her pants and pull out her gun, but they were ready for that - Abby kicked it out of her hand so that it spiraled out across the floor. Jenny lunged for it, letting go of the restraint around Helen so that the woman fell to the floor, gasping and clutching her throat.

By the time Jenny had straightened up with the gun in her hands, Abby had flung an old top over the camera and Helen had finally regained her breath. She was still on the floor, but had turned around and was leaning up on her elbows.

Jenny pointed the gun directly at her head, blood pounding in her ears. She had been waiting for this moment since the bomb all those months ago. However, despite a gun being held to her, Helen's expression showed nothing but cool impassiveness.

"It's clear that you two have been out in the wild," she stated, sounding more amused than anything.

"Shut up," Jenny demanded, steadying the gun.

"Do you even know how to use that Miss Lewis?" Helen chuckled.

Immediately, Jenny veered the gun of course and fired at the covered camera in the far corner which smashed to smithereens. Quick as a flash, Jenny refocused the gun onto Helen's face, that had now lost its smugness and showed the tiniest flicker of fear.

"Come on Jenny, let's go," Abby said shakily.

"In a minute," Jenny replied, not taking her eyes off Helen.

"Jenny, someone will have heard that!" Abby added desperately. "Please, lets just leave her here and go."

Jenny knew she was right; but now that she had Helen here, unarmed and defenseless . . . there were some things she needed to know.

"Did you know I was pregnant?" Jenny asked Helen, who's face looked bemused for second.

"What?"

"Before you planted the bomb, did you know I was pregnant?" Jenny asked in a forced-calm voice. "Did you know that you'd make me lose it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Helen insisted. "What bomb?"

"The bomb in the warehouse!" Jenny snarled. "Don't pretend you don't know what I mean!"

"I don't."

"The warehouse with all the steps! The one where the anomalies were appearing and reappearing in split seconds."

"I remember the warehouse; I was testing out some new technology," Helen admitted. "But I have no idea about the bomb."

"I don't believe you," Jenny whispered.

"Believe what you want, but do you really think I'd try to kill my husband?"

"Er, yes!" Jenny answered sarcastically.

"Jenny, we really need to go!" Abby exclaimed, pulling on her tops.

But Jenny ignored her.

"What about what happened in the shed in the forest?" she asked Helen, not moving her gun from her face.

"I think you'll find I was pointing the gun at your head, not Nick's," Helen stated with a smile.

"Well you really should have shot me when you had the chance," Jenny answered, feeling her finger itch to pull the trigger.

"Jen, your not a murderer," Abby said in a trembling voice. "Please just give me the gun."

"I'm sorry for what happened to you," Helen said in her most condescending tone. "But I think you're pointing the gun at the wrong person."

"Why have you kept us here?" Jenny asked.

"I haven't," Helen answered. "But Leek want's to test something out on someone and you fitted the bill."

"You were the one who brought us here!"

"I had to, Leek's soldiers had already seen you - "

"What things is Leek testing?" asked Abby, taking an interest in the interrogation for the first time.

"He's found a way to control the creatures - " Helen began, but at that moment, all the lights in the windowless hallway went out, leaving it in pitch blackness.

Both Jenny and Abby made the mistake of letting their guard down and turning round in confusion, giving Helen a chance to scamper up.

"JENNY!" Abby screeched, turning round in time to see Helen knock Jenny out of the way and run out into the hall.

Perhaps it was because she knew that they had a gun, but for some reason, Helen did not slow down long enough to shut and relock the door, instead running off into the darkness.

"Bitch," muttered Jenny, getting to her feet, feeling dazed.

"We should have just left when we had the chance," Abby said, looking worried.

"Well the plan worked," Jenny sighed, before catching Abby's disbelieving look. "Sort of."

"What was all that about?" Abby whispered as she peered around the door into the empty corridor.

"I don't know," Jenny admitted quietly, following her out. "That woman just does something to me . . ."

They snook down the dark corridor flat against the wall until they came to a part were the passage way split into three separate halls.

"Which way?" Abby hissed urgently.

********

**I might not be able to update until the weekend now (as I have labs for the next 2 days) but if I get a spare two hours I might be able to do another chapter. **

**Please let me know what you think :) **


	30. The creatures

**As some of you probably remember from the start of my story (it has been a long one after all!) that I began by recounting scenes from the beginning of series 2. As I am now towards the end, I'm going to try and slip back into the series finale but with my own spin. So here goes . . . **

Chapter 30

Cutter lead the way down various, never ending corridors, trying to tread as quietly as possible . . . something wasn't right. He knew it. Yet he couldn't for the life of him figure out what this place was, or why Jenny would be here. But he was convinced of it - it was her locket after all. And it's placement seemed to indicate the girls had left it as a sign for them to follow. It was too much of a coincidence both the locket and the band were left together . . . unless this was a trap . . . no, Cutter pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Because if it was a trap then that would mean Jenny might not still be alive, and the thought of seeing her again was the only thing keeping him going.

The building itself was practically falling apart; the walls were peeling with plastic and seemed oddly damp as though the plumbing had gone haywire. The lights above them flickered slightly as they passed them, and nothing made a sound except for the beeping of the hand-held anomaly detector in Conner's hand.

"It said's the anomaly is through the next door!" Conner whispered urgently from a few feet back. "I don't like this place, it gives me the creeps!"

"Relax, were going to be fine," Cutter answered quietly, rolling his eyes.

"That's exactly what someone says in a horror film before their killed," Conner hissed back, making Cutter's lips twist into a half smile -_ He certainly had a vivid imagination._

As they approached the door, Stephen put his hand on Cutter's shoulder.

"I'll go first," he mouthed, indicating Cutter's injured leg.

But Cutter brushed him off impatiently; he was not an invalid! He was perfectly capable of opening a door! Even so, as he reached for the door knob, the hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stand on end, making him shiver slightly. Something wasn't right . . .

However, to his intense relief, as the door flung open and they stepped through, they found themselves completely alone, except, of course, for the wonderful familiar flickering light. But as soon as the relief had come, it dissipated . . .

"Very good Cutter," a drawling voice spoke from behind him. "Now drop your weapons and turn around nice and slowly."

It was Leek.

Leek and his three armed henchmen.

"You!" Stephen pointed fiercely as they spun around.

"Me," Leek smiled, showing all his yellowing teeth.

He pulled out a tiny device from his suit pocket and pointed it at the anomaly behind them, which disappeared immediately as though it had been sucked in through the minuscule machine. The looks of shock must have been evident on their faces as Leek obviously felt the need to clarify;

"A little trick I picked up from the future," he answered their unasked question as he replaced the device in his jacket. "Courtesy of you're wife, actually," he added with a smile, nodding at Cutter.

"You mean Helen's behind this?" Cutter asked, trying to keep his waning voice steady.

"Helen has been very helpful, but please; give a little credit where it's due," he replied, holding out his hands to indicate himself. "Now drop you're guns; I've got a little treat for you, and if you're good boys I might just give it too you."

"Where's Jenny?" asked Cutter immediately. "And Abby?"

Leek paused slightly, a creepy smile still playing on his lips.

"Are you coming or not Professor?" he asked, before walking away.

_Vile, horrible little man._

But the temptation was too great . . . maybe he was going to take them to the girls. So Cutter threw his gun down on the floor in front of the soldiers, and after a slight pause, Stephen and Conner reluctantly followed suit. Without a word to each other, they followed Leek.

********

"What the hell have you done?" Cutter whispered in shock as his eyes scanned the gigantic room_. _

_The room that was full of creatures!_

They were all imprisoned by what looked like red laser beams, separated by species. There were Raptors, Arthraplurids, Silurian-era Scorpions, Pterosaurs, Pre-Cambrian Worms, Smiledons; basically every creature they'd ever encountered! All together in one room! What was he going to do with them?!

"Beautiful, aren't they," Leek smiled, proudly surveying them. "My very own army . . ."

As Leek drawled on and on, Cutter's attention slid from the creatures to a small, insignificant box on the wall beside him - the power supply!

". . . I'll be untouchable . . ." Leek continued, more to himself that the rest of them.

Cutter tried to catch Stephen and Conner's eye, but they were to busy scanning the creatures in horror. He cleared in throat as quietly as possible, finally catching Stephen's gaze. He gestured to the guards behind them, and gave a nod. Stephen stared back completely nonplus, so Cutter accompanied it by a count down on his hand. Whether Stephen understood or not was neither here nor there - it was now or never . . .

Unnoticed by Leek and his soldiers, Cutter slid his second gun that he had kept hidden in his trouser belt out, trying to make as little movement as possible. His heart nearly burst it's bank with beating . . . _do it . . . do it . . ._

He took aim and as quick as a flash, he fired at the power box six times. At the same time, he sensed Stephen and Conner from behind him punching the guards. Then everything went dark . . . shouts and screams filled the room - whether friend or foe, Cutter couldn't make out. All he knew was that the laser beams that were containing the creatures had disappeared also.

"RUN!" he shouted over the babble; hoping and praying that both Stephen and Conner heard him.

Cutter himself flung himself at the door, crashing into a figure on the way. His brain told him that it was Conner, so he threw him in front as they continued to run into the darkness, with an army of creatures following close by.

********


	31. Did you just see ?

Chapter 31

Jenny led the way through the labyrinth of pitch black corridors, followed by Abby, who was so close that Jenny could feel her cool, panting breath on the back of her neck. Several times when she thought she heard a noise, Jenny stopped dead, causing Abby to crash into her painfully.

"Ouch!" Jenny hissed after the umpteenth time.

"Sorry!" Abby said apologetically. "If you could just give me some warning - "

But she stopped talking abruptly as the noise grew closer. They both backed into a corner, and flung themselves against the damp wall, breathing heavily, as they sensed something near them.

This was it . . . they were caught!

But as the figure passed, they caught sight of it in the dimness . . . it was a gigantic Centipede-like creature crawling slowly; it was at least as long as a man is tall, had a massive armored back and more legs than were possible to count. They both held their breaths as the thing inched away from them down the corridor in the direction they had came from.

"Did you just see -? " Jenny breathed in disbelief.

"Yes."

"Was it a - ?"

"Yes."

"Should we - ?"

"No."

"I'm going to need some intense therapy if we ever get out of here," Jenny whispered, pulling on Abby's top to make her follow her again.

"Count me in as well," Abby grimaced back.

They continued onwards in silence, both thinking but not saying the same thing; something was wrong. However twisted Leek and Helen were, Jenny was sure that they wouldn't allow creatures to roam around the place for the hell of it. They again, it's not like they would let prisoner's such as themselves wander around either, but she doubted very much the Centipede escaped in the same way they had.

As they passed through an arch-way, the air around them seemed to change as though they were outside; but they were not unfortunately. They had, in fact, wandered into a large circular room with a domed roof and several doors dotted around the place.

"One of them could be the exit!" Abby exclaimed, her eyes scrutinising each door.

"Yeah, or they could each have a handful of soldiers behind them," sighed Jenny, scanning the room. "So which one?"

"I duno; pick one!"

Jenny opened her mouth to speak, but her voice caught in her throat as she heard a sound that she had been dreading . . . a low growl emanated from behind a pillar in the far corner, and a pair of red eyes seemed to gleam out of the darkness.

********

**Sorry it's such a short chapter. The next one will be longer I promise!**

**What do you think so far, hmmm? Lol x**


	32. The hero

**The penultimate chapter . . . it is quite graphic in some parts so please don't read if you don't want to !**

Chapter 32

Cutter and Conner didn't stop running until they were sure they had put a great deal of space between themselves and the creatures. Not to mention Leek. Cutter doubled over, wheezing heavily; his leg throbbing painfully. Conner crashed into him and fell against the wall, panting.

"Where's - where's - S-stephen," Cutter gulped, straightening up with difficulty.

"I duno," Conner gasped, clutching his chest. "We got separated."

"Well, we have to go back for him!"

"Er, I'm sorry; did you not see all those creatures?!" Conner spluttered.

"We can't just leave him - "

But the rest of his words were drowned out by a high pitched scream coming from somewhere on their left. Both Cutter and Conner exchanged a look of mingled shock and excitement . . . it couldn't be . . .

They sprinted towards the sound, all tiredness and pain completely forgotten. They burst into a massive circular room that was much better lit, scanning it wildly. It came from in here, Cutter was sure of it . . .

Then he saw her.

She was much skinnier than he remembered; her top and pants almost falling off her. She was wearing no make up, and had her hair scraped back into a loose pony tail.

But it was her . . . as breathtakingly beautiful as ever.

He could have sank to his knees and cried at the very sight of her.

She was alive!

And she was in danger.

Her face was frozen in what looked like a moment of terror; backing away from none other than a Sabre-toothed cat. She had her arm flung up in front of Abby, pushing her backwards away from the approaching snarling beast.

Before he could stop himself, Cutter did something incredibly stupid.

"JENNY!" he shouted, so loud that it echoed around the room for seconds after.

He watched as if in slow motion as her head turned towards him. Her eyes found his and widened in disbelief; her mouth gapping.

"Nick?!" he heard her gasp, before her gaze snapped back to the creature before her.

Because of her lapse in judgement in turning her attention away from it, the beast had began to pounce forward.

Cutter reached for his gun only to find that it wasn't there anymore . . . he must have dropped it in the corridor! He looked up to see the girls cowering against a pillar; their arms wrapped around each other waiting for the fatal blow . . .

Gun shots from up ahead could be heard. It was Stephen standing on a balcony over-looking the entire room. He aimed his bullets at the Smiledon, firing again and again; everyone in the room seemed frozen in animation for those few seconds. Finally, the creature dropped to the floor, still alive but immobalised, just a few feet from Jenny and Abby.

Jenny looked down at the creature, and immediately dropped her arms from Abby and sprinted towards Cutter. She flung herself into his arms, almost knocking him over with the force of her embrace. She was sobbing so hard that she couldn't speak properly.

"They . . . she . . . told me . . ." was all he could make out; her voice muffled in his top that she was clinging to for dear life.

Cutter wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders and pulled her in tight; relief flooding through every vein in his body. Beside him, he was aware of Conner and Abby embracing in the same manner; both clasping for each other desperately as though one of them was about to disappear again. Stephen had disappeared from the balcony; most likely to be reunited with them on the ground floor.

"She told me you were dead," she whispered, so quietly that he almost missed it as she pulled away to look at him; her face tear-stained.

"Who?" asked Cutter, putting his hands either side of her wet face. "Who told you that?"

"Me," said a voice from behind them.

It was Helen.

"You?" Cutter asked in disbelief, catching hold of Jenny's waist as she made to launch at his ex wife. "Why did you tell me she was dead? The photograph - ?"

"A fake," she answered reluctantly, holding up her hand to show them a large, deep-looking but half-healed cut on the palm. "I faked the blood on them to make them look dead."

Everyone was staring at Helen with a mixture of confusion and revulsion.

"But why?" Cutter repeated, unable to believe that she would sink so low.

"To give you a chance to get out from the spell she's got you under Nick," she replied coldly, indicating Jenny. "To make you see that we belong together - "

"You disgust me," Cutter said with as much contempt in his voice as he could muster.

He walked away, pulling Jenny with him. Conner put a comforting arm around Abby's shoulder and led her off after them.

"Nick, please - " Helen began.

"Yes, Nick," said a different cold voice from one of the doorways, causing them all to turn around. "Please stay . . . you don't want to miss the show now do you?"

It was Leek.

"What are you talking about?" Conner asked coldly, his arm still firmly wrapped around Abby.

Leek didn't answer, but gestured up at the ceiling with a sickeningly wide smile. Cutter's eyes followed his gaze upwards . . . and his stomach twisted into a knot. It was a Future Predator. It was dangling casually from one of the many pipes that ran along the ceiling, clicking it's tongue in a horrifying way that told Cutter it was discerning all their shapes out via Sonar. It had an odd red device attached to it's head that flashed every few seconds.

Cutter could feel Jenny trembling beside him, and had to admit; he didn't know how they were getting out of this one alive. But why hadn't it attacked yet?

"It's chipped," Leek shouted over to them, indicating the remote in his hand. "It won't attack until I tell it to . . . which as it happens is right now . . ."

"All right; you've had your nasty little joke," Helen interjected, looking at the vile man with loathing.

"Who said anything about a joke?" Leek answered in mock-bemusement.

"Stop this NOW," Helen ordered sternly.

"YOU DO NOT GIVE ME ORDERS!" Leek exploded, pointing an accusing finger at Helen.

He then fiddled with something on the remote, causing the creature to snarl and thrash around in obvious attack mode.

"RUN!" Cutter yelled, pushing Jenny in front of him through a side door.

Abby and Conner followed and they flat-out sprinted down the narrow corridor, aware of the fact that the Predator was in hot pursuit. They could hear it scrapping across the walls barely forty feet behind them.

"What's wrong?" Stephen's voice issued from behind them out of the corridor on their right.

"STEPHEN RUN!" Cutter bellowed, spinning around.

Stephen's face had the ghost of a smile on it when the creature launched at him; probably at the joy of seeing Jenny and Abby after so long. The Predator knocked him into the floor so hard that he skidded a few feet before realisation dawned on him. He was torn apart in seconds.

"NO!!!" Cutter cried, scampering around to get to him.

Without even thinking about it, he reached out and yanked the device out of the creatures thrashing head, causing it to make the most earsplitting sound before collapsing into a heap. Cutter turned back around to Stephen . . . oh god there was so much blood . . .

"No, no, no," he muttered as he fell to his knees next to his dead friend. "No . . . no . . . he can't be . . ."

It was as if Cutter had slipped into some sort of lucid dream. He could feel hands on his shoulders trying to pull him up . . . trying to pull him away from Stephen . . . he could hear voices around him, but he could discern none of the words . . . they were meaningless . . .

********

**:-0 Poor Stephen**

**The next chapter will be the last I'm afraid!**

**Please let me know your opinions!**

**Muchas Lovas x**


	33. New beginnings

**Sob :( so here I go, writing my last chapter! **

**Thank you to all my reviewers especially Cakeyx Clickx and Steph1 who have beared with me till the end!**

Chapter 33

Jenny jolted out of her disturbed slumber violently, drenched in a cold sweat. Breathing hard, she sat up and surveyed the darkened room as her racing heart began to slow. She was okay . . . she was home . . . she was not back in Leek's warehouse as her nightmare had tricked her into believing. She looked around at Abby, who was in a deep sleep next to her, bunched up in the foetal position. At the sight of her, Jenny began to relax and lowered herself back down onto the bed quietly.

On her first night back in her apartment alone, Jenny had been unable to sleep and paced her living room, feeling incredibly scared and alone. She missed Abby. She needed her here as she had been for all those horrific weeks; she simply just couldn't go to sleep without knowing Abby was next to her. Then, at around midnight, her buzzer had bleeped, cutting into the suffocating silence. Jenny answered it in trepidation; who on earth would be calling at this hour! But it was Abby's frightened face she saw when she opened the door.

"I can't sleep without you," she whispered, looking slightly ashamed of herself. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Jenny sighed with relief, moving to allow Abby to pass.

So that's how it came to be that Abby had temporarily moved in with Jenny. Jenny could tell that she missed Conner terribly, but she understood that what Abby needed right now was to be with someone who went through the same thing as she had. Jenny knew this because she felt exactly the same way.

She sighed and closed her eyes, listening to Abby's slow, rhythmic breathing. The thought of the next day made her stomach twist uncomfortably; Stephen's funeral. She had to go, she knew that, but the thought of burying the friend that had saved her life at the expense of his own was too upsetting to comprehend. Silent tears trickled out of the side of her eyes and into her hair. _Why_ did he have to die . . . and in such a horrific way. The sight of it was burned into Jenny's memory, and was unlikely to ever fade. She could see it as clearly as if it was happening right in front of her. Every time she closed her eyes, it began as though it was a recording that had been waiting to play all day. She groaned and turned on her side, determined to get some sleep for tomorrow. She needed to be at her best. Her one comforting thought was that Leek was now locked in a volt in the home office, waiting to be moved to a high-security prison without trial. Helen, however, had disappeared.

_Coward, _Jenny thought to herself as the image of Helen popped into her head.

The creatures themselves had been destroyed. Gassed to be more precise. They had to be; they were too dangerous. It was quite a shame really. They had been yanked out of their natural habitat by Leek and Helen to be used as pawns in their nasty little plot. They were just doing what their instincts dictated.

_God, I've spent to much time with Nick, _Jenny thought with a slight smile.

But the smile faded as quick as it had come at the thought of him. He was in a bad way. Every time she had seen him since Stephen was killed, he had stunk of stale whisky and been totally out of it. She had tried to be there for him, but it was clear that at the moment, he needed space. Maybe they all did.

When she had seen him in Leek's building after mourning his death for days, she had sobbed with such overwhelming relief. As she ran into his arms, she promised herself that that was it; no more dramatics . . . no more messing around . . . she wanted to be with him, and nothing was ever going to break them apart again. But after what happened to Stephen, Jenny could feel Cutter pulling away from her again; he was on a path to self-destruction that she just couldn't seem to get him off. That was partly why Jenny felt such soul-crushing guilt about Stephen; it was not just the fact that he had saved them all . . . it was that some tiny part of her actually resented him for dying and ruining her already crumbled relationship with Nick. She knew that that made her such an evil, selfish person, and she spent much of her time feeling disgusted in herself.

She rolled around to face Abby, who looked so incredibly peaceful. Stephen's death had shook her up almost as bad as it had Cutter. After the intimate moment she had exchanged with Conner upon seeing him for the first time in weeks, she had completely withdrew into herself; the only person she would speak openly with being Jenny. But Jenny wasn't worried about her. Abby was a fighter, and she was going to be fine, Jenny could sense it. She had had a word with thoroughly depressed Conner the day before, explaining that Abby was not rejecting him, but that he should give her some time to heal. He had nodded, his expression like a sad puppy's.

Everything was messed up.

Everyone was messed up.

********

"You look nice," Abby said with a small smile, indicating Jenny's black suit.

"Thanks, you do too," Jenny replied, feeling rather odd about exchanging compliments about funeral attire.

Abby was wearing a black (and incredibly short) flayed skirt, with a black waistcoat over a deep purple top. Jenny gave a weak smile at the sight; she was sure that Stephen would have approved of Abby's outfit enthusiastically.

They both got in the car, and Jenny drove them to Cutter's house, where the team were all meeting to travel to the funeral together. A sign of unity in the face of despair, as Lester had put it. As they pulled up, they observed that the door was open for people to make their own way in. As they entered, they were greeted by Conner who had been milling around by the door.

"You two look lovely," Conner said in a hollow voice.

They both smiled, and stood awkwardly together watching Lester make small talk with some other employees of the ARC that Jenny didn't know very well. Her eyes scanned crowd looking for a blonde head of hair . . . but Cutter was know where to be seen.

"I think I saw him go upstairs a while ago," Conner answered her unasked question quietly.

Jenny nodded and smiled, turning away and walking up the steps, her heart pounding slightly faster than normal. She tried his own bedroom and the spare bedroom that they had shared that wonderful night in, but they were both empty. She tried the last door; a room that she'd never been in before. It looked like it was some sort of study, with shelves covering two of the four walls that were littered with books, artifacts, and display fossils. Cutter was sitting with his back to her, one hand supporting his head on the desk, and the other grasping a glass of whisky.

"Nick?" she said gently, as she walked into the room.

She saw his shoulders square slightly, but he didn't look around; instead taking another swig of his drink. She tried again.

"Nick, don't you think you've had enough?"

"I can still feel," he said in a blunt, croaky voice. "So no, I don't think I have."

"Please don't do this," Jenny pleaded quietly, approaching him slowly. "Not today of all days."

He sighed, looking at his glass with rather glazed eyes. Then he held it out to her. She took it with trembling hands and, ignoring the strange desire she had to knock back the drink herself, she put in on one of the shelves.

"Are you coming downstairs?" Jenny asked softly. "The cars will be here soon."

"In a minute," he replied, looking away again.

"Nick, come on," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders gently.

She felt him tense for a second, and she was about to withdraw before she felt his shaking hand on her own.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "It's just that - "

"I know," she said softly, bending over to speak into his ear, enjoying the warmth of his skin on her own. "I know."

"I don't think I can do this - "

"Of course you can," she whispered. "I know you can. And I'm here for you. And Conner and Abby. And we need you there with us."

He sighed again, and leaned his head into hers more.

"I know," he murmured, squeezing her hand slightly. "Tell everyone I'll be down in a minute."

Jenny nodded, and backed away, aware that she missed Nick's touch now that it was no longer there.

********

If Cutter had been through a worse hour that this one, he couldn't remember it. The ceremony was so movingly beautiful that he had to look upwards at the magnificent ceiling to stop tears streaming out of his eyes. All the time, Jenny was sat next to him, her face slightly screwed up, as if she too was attempting to keep the tears at bay.

At the grave side, they each placed a lily on top of the coffin, Cutter trying very hard not to picture his best friend lying in there. All he felt was a vast emptiness inside him; so many unsaid words and unspoken emotions swirling around that he had wanted to convey to Stephen, but now knew he never could._ I never told you I forgive you Stephen . . . you never knew how much you meant to me . . . you were my best friend . . . my only friend at one point . . . I don't know how I'm going to do this without you . . ._

The funeral party was starting to disperse, and Cutter found himself walking with Jenny through the grave yard in silence. In front of them was Abby and Conner, walking slowly a few feet apart. As he watched them, he saw Abby reach out her hand towards Conner's as though she was about to grasp it. Then, it seemed, she decided against it, and staggered slightly away from the oblivious student.

"Drink?" he heard Jenny ask him from what seemed like far away. But he didn't really take it in, still absorbed in observing his two friends in front of him. "Another time then," she added, sounding rather disappointed.

Cutter stopped and looked around at her. She did the same. She looked so beautiful; her dark hair was pulled back intoan elegant side-pony, and her make up was incredibly soft. She was wearing a tight black suit with the standard high heels that she could barely walk in. Her gentle gaze found his and for a second, they just stared at each other.

"Yeah," Cutter nodded, eventually finding his voice. "That'd be nice."

Her face cracked into a genuine smile, and she looked rather pleased with herself. But as she turned to walk away, he knew he couldn't let her go without saying something he should have say a long time ago.

"Wait!" he blurted out, causing her to turn in surprise. Before he had time to lose his bottle, he took her hands in his own. "I know I haven't been handling this very well. But I just want you to know that as far as you and I are concerned, my feelings haven't changed. What happened to Stephen . . . well . . . it's made me realise that I don't want to waste anymore time. I know a lot has happened, but I still want to be with you . . . if - if you still want to," he finished, rather lamely.

As he looked up into her big brown eyes, they were unreadable. Then, unexpectedly, she leaned forward and rested her lips on his. After a second, he responded with enthusiasm, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in. She kissed just like he remembered, and for a wonderful second, he was completely lost in the moment as if they were the only two people on the planet. It may have seemed very tacky kissing in a grave yard, but Cutter was certain that Stephen wouldn't mind - in face, he probably would have slapped him on the back, laughing, saying _'it's about bloody time!'_

"Cutter?" Lester's drawling voice shouted from behind them. Cutter and Jenny broke apart, the latter looking rather embarrassed. "Call from the ARC; another anomaly," Lester continued.

Cutter and Jenny both looked at each other, the dread that he felt mirrored in her face. It was the first anomaly since Stephen had been killed.

"Sorry," Lester added, looking apologetically between the two of them. "Bad timing."

Hewalked away, and Jenny turned to look at him again, wearing a cynical smile.

"Come on," she sighed, reaching out and locking her fingers in between his own. "Let's go and do what we do best."

He met her smile with a genuine one of his own.

"Sure," he nodded, allowing her to pull him towards the car; her hand still grasped firmly in his.

********

**:D I wish that's how it really happened! **

**Hope you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks again to my reviewers who encouraged me all the way :)**

**Nikki x x x**


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